


Recovery Process

by every_fandom_ever



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hydra Peter Parker, Kid Peter Parker, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, War Veteran Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-05-25 18:58:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14983487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/every_fandom_ever/pseuds/every_fandom_ever
Summary: Bucky finally has a chance to let his kid have a stable life, but everyone is still recovering-Currently on hiatus-





	1. a New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the beginning of a new life for my fam

_-Bed (Frame for Peter)_

_-Farmers market_

_-Natasha_

_-Paint room (Peter)_

 

“Hey, Pete! Come here!” The boy runs down the stairs, skipping the last two steps, almost giving Bucky a heart attack. He jumps onto the chair, grabbing the short list and looking through it. “You missed a new phone and going to the bank.” Peter points to the spots where the items should go. Bucky likes to keep things alphabetical, including his lists. He scribbles it down in the right spots and rips the paper out, shoving it in his pocket. Bucky grabs his jacket and shoves it on quickly. When it gets caught on a part of his prosthetic, Peter makes him kneel, unhooking the string and pulling it the rest of the way up. The keys are already in his pocket, so he heads out of the house, hand held tight by Peter.

Even though they had moved a bit over a week ago, and Natasha had assured him that it was a good neighborhood, he still panicked. With the last incident, he didn’t want to just dive into a new life. He had to be careful, or at least try to.

The truck is old, even though Bucky had just bought it from Nat. It was a dusty blue, old with paint chipping off, but he had gotten rid of his last ride. Peter climbs into the passenger’s seat, climbing into the small car-seat.

“Are we going to see Aunty Nat?”

“She’s out right now. We’ll either meet her out or wait until she gets home. Let’s go get that stuff for your room first.” Peter jumps around in his seats, smiling as he turns up the music. It takes a while, but they do find the store Nat told him about. Some weird, hand-crafted shit. He lets Peter pick out a frame, a race car one. Peter reaches into Bucky’s coat and grabs the list, writes the number for the bed and hands it back. “We can get the paint first so we don’t have to carry this around,” Bucky nods. They go over to a little paint section, different cans lay like a rainbow. His room is small enough to where they only grab two cans, one a bright red and the other an equally bright blue. The car colors are the same. Bucky goes back to grab the box matching the frame number, Peter carrying the cans in both arms. The check out guy offers help, but Bucky politely refuses as he pays. They carry everything out and load it into the back. Peter grabs the list once again, crosses out the paint and frame.

“What next?” Peter asked.

“Let’s go to the bank. Nat said she would be at that Diner if she wasn’t at home, so we can go after. I think she got the phone.” Peter turns up the music again, humming along to the current song. The bank is quick, almost no people there. He manages to set everything up and take out some cash within an hour. Natasha already set most of the account up a couple of days ago, so he doesn’t have to do a lot. Peter is playing with the paper when he gets back, drawing on the back of the list. Bucky makes out two figures, another currently being drawn. He smiles and carefully pulls out, trying not to disturb the boy.

He isn’t surprised when He finds the diner is small, another hometown thing. It had become a pattern as he discovered more and more places. Natasha is sitting near the corner, another man sitting next to her; Tall, dark skin, short hair. It must be the guy Nat was talking about. She smiled and stood up. Peter ran over to her, jumping into her arms and spinning around.

“How's my little Солнечный луч?” _(Sunbeam)_

“Я в порядке. я скучал по тебе!” _(I’m fine. I missed you)_ Bucky can see the guys shock at a little kid speaking Russian but doesn’t say anything. She sets Peter down and walks up to Bucky, hugging him as well. She doesn’t even avoid the prosthetic arm, just wrapping both arms around and squeezing tightly. He keeps it by his side. The other guy stands up and holds his hand out for Bucky. By either complete luck or mediocre observation, he holds out his left, letting Bucky shake with his right.

“Barnes, this is Sam Wilson. Sam, this is James Barnes.”

“You can call me Bucky,”

“My name is Peter!” Peter moves directly in between Bucky and Sam, holding his hand out. Sam shakes it, grinning at the loud kid. “It’s a pleasure. I’m Sam.” Peter apparently decides that’s good enough of an introduction and slides in, Bucky next to him and Sam and Nat on the other side. Natasha digs through her purse, pulling out a phone and sliding it to Bucky.

“I got this. Figured it was one less thing for you to do. No password and completely empty except for my number,”

“Thank you, Natalia, really.”

“It’s nothing. But anyway, how’s the house?”

“It’s nice. Enough room for Pete and I to relax. I got stuff for his room in the truck.”

“Do you have your stuff yet?” Bucky stiffens but calms when Peter taps his leg under the table. He sees bank and phone crossed out above the picture. “Not a priority.”

“You should make it a priority-”

“Not yet.” She holds up her hands in mock defense. A waitress comes over and takes their orders: A chicken wrap for Natasha, two burgers for both Sam and Bucky, and a hot dog kids meal for Peter. Natasha leans towards Peter, “Hey Солнечный луч, what are you drawing there?”

“Peter holds up the list, showing off his drawing. There’s a large and small figure up front, meant to be Bucky and Peter. Next to Peter is a figure with long wavy hair, Natasha. What he doesn’t really expect is a fourth person, holding hands with Natasha’s. He realizes, after a moment, that it’s Sam.

“It’s all of us! I put Sam in too because I like Sam!”

“Oh, thanks kid,” No one is able to not smile at Peter when he’s practically glowing, “I like you too.” they do some weird fist bump and Natasha laughs.

Their food arrives and they all start to eat when Peter pulls on Bucky’s sleeve. He points to his mouth, “Dad! What about my tooth?!” Bucky lets out a small laugh.

“You’ll be fine kiddo, just don’t try to eat the plate,”

“What’s this about a tooth?” Natasha asked. Peter pulls his upper lip, showing his front tooth. He makes it wiggle with his tongue. “I tried eating some chips, and one was really hard, and it made my tooth really loose,”

“You know what that means Petey?” he looks at Natasha with wonder.

“What?”

“When that falls out, the tooth fairy is gonna come and give you some money.” Peter’s eyes fall and his smile disappears. His voice is quiet when he says, “What’s the tooth fairy?” Natasha doesn’t say anything, but Sam looks more confused than before. Bucky gets it, what child doesn’t know what the tooth fairy is?

“She’s a magical fairy that comes when you lose a tooth. You put the tooth under your pillow, and when you go to sleep, she comes and switches out your tooth for a bit of money.” Peter takes a minute to realize what she says and smiles at Bucky. “Is she really gonna come?”

“Yeah kid, but the thing’s gonna have to fall out of your head first.” Peter laughs and starts eating, trying to avoid his front tooth. They eat mostly in silence, Peter rambling for a couple minutes. Peter finishes first, going back to his scrap of paper. Another minute goes by and Peter suddenly shouts. The adults look over to see him holding his mouth. He slowly pulls his hand away, revealing a small, slightly bloody tooth. “Dad! ‘Ook!”

“Here,” Bucky grabs a napkin, wetting it with his own water. He hands it to Peter, shows him how to gently press the napkin to stop the bleeding. He lets the boy scoot out of the booth, “Why don’t you go wash it in the bathroom and wrap it up in a paper towel, make sure you don’t drop it.” When Bucky sits back down, both Sam and Natasha are looking at him.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Both of them say, but Nat is stilling eyeing him. “I’ll never get over how soft you two are.”

“What does that even mean?”

“You know what I mean,” Peter comes running back in a blur, waving a folded square of paper towel, landing straight on Bucky’s lap. He lifts the kid up, setting him back in his own seat.

“So what do you have left on your list?” Natasha asked.

“Farmer's market!”

“Oh, I love the farmers market here. Make sure you get something good.” Peter nodded, writing it down on the list. Everyone gets up. Bucky shakes Sam’s hand again and Nat pulls him into a hug. She barely let's go before grabbing a hair band out of nowhere, swiftly pulling his hair into a bun. “It’s hot, and you refuse to get a haircut.” He shrugs, unable to disagree. Peter hugs Natasha and, surprisingly, hugs Sam. He’s taken aback when Peter latches to his leg. He does recover, patting the kid on the back as he lets go.

“Come on kid, let's get going” Peter runs back out to the car, climbing into the seat and waving through the window. Once they get out of the lot he looks over at Bucky.

“Hey, dad,”

“Hey, kid?”

“Why didn’t the bad men tell us about the tooth fairy?” Bucky narrowly avoids accidentally slamming on the breaks. Usually, Bucky will try to avoid questions about…’the bad men’. He’ll either indirectly answer or tell him to ask Natasha whenever she visits. Now, he just takes a deep breath.

“Remember what Aunty Nat told you when I-...when I was in the hospital?”

“She said that they didn’t want us to be happy,”

“Exactly, they thought that if you knew about the tooth fairy, it would make you happy.”

“But why couldn’t we be happy?”

“...I don’t know Peter.” The boy doesn’t press further, going back to his drawing. The small fold of paper towel sits in one of the cupholders. The music is loud again, blasting some weird pop song Peter will listen to only to annoy Bucky. There are a lot of people at the farmers market, not enough to where it’s impossible, but it definitely stresses Bucky out.

“We can go tomorrow. It might be less busy.” Peter says.

“No...we’ll just get this over with. We need more food that’s not take-out or cheap junk food.” They go over what they’ll get, writing it on the back of the paper: Apples, cantaloupe, grapes, honey, mushrooms, oranges, and plums. Peter climbs out, grabs the two bags reusable bags they do have, holds out the list for Bucky, latching onto the prosthetic.

They weave through the crowds, sticking as close to the wall as they can. He tries not to talk to people, just answering with one-word responses. He makes sure Peter says next to his side, holding onto his sleeve. They cross everything off the list as they go, the bags slowly growing larger and larger. At one point, Peter tugs on his sleeve, pointing to a guy at the end of the stalls. A small sign says ‘Honey Sticks’.

“Can I get one?”

“Sure,” He hands Peter a single and watches as he runs over. The man laughs and trades the cash for a small, red stick. Peter runs back, waving it at Bucky. The gap in his tooth makes him look younger, more innocent. He helps Peter tear the top open, led him back towards the car as he gets it all over his face. Bucky hands him a napkin from the truck, letting him wipe every off while Bucky loads the truck. While in the car, Peter hands him the list.

“Can we put this on the fridge at home?”

“Yeah,” Peter jumps in his seat. On the way back, he sings to the music on the radio. Even when they get home and the car is off, he hums to a song from before. Peter takes in the groceries while Bucky grabs the frame from the trunk. They lug everything inside.

They haven't necessarily got the house ready yet. The kitchen has enough dishware for them and had mostly takeout leftovers in the fridge. Today was the first time they bought actual food for the house. Nat had bought them a small TV and couch for the living room, a welcoming gift, she had said. Peter’s room was the most...developed. There was already a mattress with two pillows and two blankets, a small bookshelf, and a dresser. Peter helped Bucky carry the box upstairs to the bedrooms, along with the paint. “You go put the food away and pull the tarp in from the garage.”

He planned on building the frame in his own room so he can paint Peter’s. His room was...empty. A queen mattress stuffed into the corner, a few duffel bags with clothes and...other things, in the closet, and a space heater in the middle of the room. He absolutely hated the cold, even when it was summer.

Bucky opened the box and pulls out the parts as he hears Peter drag the sheet into his room. He runs into the room, holding out Bucky phone.

“Aunty Nat called,”

“What did she say?”

“She wanted to know if we wanted to come to breakfast tomorrow. Can we? Please!”

“Yeah, yeah. She’ll just come over if we don’t.”

“Can I call her back and tell her?!”

“Sure Petey,” The boy runs out of the room, screaming into the phone once again.


	2. the Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has breakfast with his favorite Aunt

Bucky spends the next two hours trying to build that damn frame. Peter watches, commentating and eating a plum. He cusses a lot, stubbing his toe on what seems like twenty separate pieces and has to redo three different parts, but it gets finished. Bucky has to hold Peter back from jumping on it. He moves the mattress from his room into Bucky’s, deciding to sleep in there for now. He reheats some pizza rolls for Peter and sits with him on the couch, watching some random show on the TV. He just grabs a plum for himself, even though Peter tries to feed him his own dinner.

They stay up late into the night, though Bucky manages to convince Peter to sleep around eleven. He carries Peter upstairs, turning all the lights off on his way. There are pajamas in his duffel for the boy, so he pulls it out, setting Peter on the bed. Peter’s barely able to keep his eyes open, so Bucky helps take off his clothes and switch him into pajamas, covered with different dinosaurs. It was his favorite pair. Bucky tucks him into the new bed, whispering a goodnight and turning off the light. There’s a night light in the corner, a small star, the allows Bucky to find his own bag in the closet. He pulls out a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, tip-toeing to the bathroom. He dumps his clothes into the corner and changes, not taking off the prosthetic. He won’t sleep, and it’s their first real night sleeping here.

Unfortunately, Peter somehow knows this too. When Bucky comes out of the bathroom, Peter is sitting on his mattress, blanket wrapped around himself. He doesn’t say anything until Bucky is sitting next to him, legs stretching across the floor.

“You won’t be able to sleep with this,” Peter stands up, taking off Bucky’s shirt. The scars stretch all the way across, from his shoulder to his side. All red and irritated by the shirt and the prosthetic itself. Peter pulls at the straps, loosening them until they fall around him. Peter slides it off, setting it to the ground, next to the mattress. Peter helps him put the shirt back on. Instead of going back to his own bed, he lays down on the mattress, patting the spot next to him. Bucky sighs, laying down next to him. Peter latches onto his right arm, grabbing the blanket and covering the both of them. “Night dad,”

“Night kid.”

It should’ve been expected, really. New home, new town. He shouldn’t have even tried to sleep. It’s seven in the morning when Bucky is screaming, pushing his way off of the bed and towards the wall. Peter is up, slowly approaching the man.

“Dad, calm down.” Bucky slides down the wall, wrapping his arm around himself. Peter crouches next to him. There’s a cut on his arm from where he was pushed against the wall, a chipped part of the wall cutting him. The closer Peter got, he saw the claw marks on Bucky’s left side, just under his ribs. He finally gets close enough to set a hand on his knee. There’s a flinch, but he doesn’t freak out, so Peter stays there. Ten minutes later, Bucky can control his breathing and manages to let go of his side. Peter goes into the bathroom, grabs the first aid kit from on top of this sink, and goes back to Bucky.

“Here, hold this.” Bucky takes the washcloth, numbly pressing it to his side. Peter spends the next five minutes cleaning it out, getting the blood out from under his fingernails, and wraps it up. He cleans his own cut and puts a band-aid on his arm.

“Aunty Nat called and said she’d pick us up. I can call and tell her we can’t come.”

“..N-No, I know you want to see her. You can go, I can stop by later.”

“Are you sure-”

“Pete, I’ll be fine. You go get ready.” Peter looks at him for a minute before putting everything back into the kit. “Did you get hurt?” Bucky’s voice is quiet like he’s scared of what the answer could be. Peter comes back out, grabbing clothes out of the duffel.

“A cut from the wall. I cleaned it and put a band-aid on it, see.” Peter points to the neon green band-aid on his arm. Bucky doesn’t look, he just sits on the floor. He watches Peter change, making sure he puts the dirty clothes in the small basket. Peter sits next to him, picking at the hem of his shorts. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

“You can go, Pete.”

“Are you gonna be ok?”

“I’ll be fine,”

“Do you-”

“Peter. I’ll be fine. Why don’t you go wait downstairs, I’ll get ready and call Aunty Nat when I’m on my way.” Peter nods, running down the stairs. Bucky gets up, heading into the bathroom and starting up the shower.

When Natasha does pull up a few minutes later, she frowns when Peter walks up, no Barnes behind him. He waves and hops into the backseat of her small car. “Is Bucky coming?”

“He said he would stop by later.”

“...Do you want me to go check on him?”

“I helped him. He was getting in the shower when I left.”

“Ok, I’ll call him when we get there.” She gets the boy talking easily, rambling about a book his dad had bought him. Natasha tried to visit as often as she could, heading out for a couple days at a time. Sometimes, it worried her when she would see them, huddled in a dingy apartment, both paranoid and waiting for someone to take them. It was nice to see them be...somewhat stable.

When she pulled up to the house, she noticed him gasp. He had always liked her house. Peter jumped out of the car, not even waiting for it to fully stop, running to the front door. He was jumping up and down, waiting for her to come out and unlock the door. Once inside, he ran into her living room, jumping onto the couch. She chased after him and jumped on the couch with him.

“Hey Peter, you remember the guy I was with yesterday? Sam?”

“Yeah,”

“He lives here with me, he’s gonna be home in a bit, that ok?”

“Ok,” She turns on the tv, making sure he’s distracted before going into the kitchen. She had wanted to make breakfast for the two of them, let them get settled and keep an eye out in case something happened. She had pancake batter already made and ready to go. Within ten minutes, she had Peter stuffing his face at the island, hands already covered in syrup, bacon bits, and probably orange juice. He jumps when the door opens.

Sam walks in laughing, covered in sweat and tossing his water bottle back and forth. Steve is behind him, laughing as well. That’s when she sees Peter start to retreat, still anxious with new people, especially not with Bucky around. She sets a hand on his shoulder, “It’s ok Pete. Hey Sam!”

“Hey Ba-oh, hi Peter.”

“Hi.”

“This is Sam’s friend, Steve. This is Peter.” Sam goes to the fridge, but Steve stays in the doorway, trapped under Peter’s glare. He drops off of his seat and stands in front of him.

“он в порядке?” _(Is he OK?)_

“он чист. он также делает хорошее печенье,” _(He’s clean. He also makes good cookies,)_ Peter smiles and holds out his hand for Steve to shake. Steve smiles back and shakes Peter’s hand. Steve doesn’t seem to mind the mess, though he does wash his hands quickly.

“Peter’s dad is a friend who just moved over here. He’s coming by later. How was the workout?”

“I got three laps on him today.”

“Oh har har, you’re so damn funny Rogers.” even Peter laughs, bringing his plate to the sink. Natasha takes it from him, washing it off before putting it in the dishwasher. Peter runs back into the living room. Natasha and Steve follow, standing in the doorway and watching as he flips through the different channels.

“How long have you known this kid?” Steve whispers.

“Around three years. Met him...on a job.”

“You say that like it was one of your secret jobs-” Natasha’s look that cuts him off. He remembers a bit of when she had one of those jobs, she had been gone for almost a month. She was in and out for another two months before she settled back in. He had tried asking about what the job was, but she refused to talk about it. All she had said was that something happened to a friend.

It’s someone yelling, on the TV, that startles them. A cop show that he had stopped on. All it shows is the victim, yelling out for help. Natasha moves immediately, grabbing the remote from the kid. It’s like Peter is stuck, reliving everything all at once as Natasha switches the TV to a soccer match.

“Hey, Peter. look at me, Pete.” He doesn’t, but the shaking slowly stops. “Hey, why don’t make some more pancakes for when your dad comes, you wanna help me?” He nods and follows Natasha to the kitchen. Sam comes from downstairs in a change of clothes. He walks up to Steve, noticing the look on his face.

“Everything ok man?”

“I...kid had a freak out I think. Went to help Nat make more breakfast.”

“Yeah, I think something happened to him. I mean, I met him yesterday, and he lost his tooth, but he didn’t know what the tooth fairy was. Didn’t think there was a kid who didn’t know.”

“I would ask, but I’m kind of afraid of Natasha.”

“Aren’t we all?” They both move into the kitchen where Peter is sitting on the counter, helping move pancakes from the pan and onto a plate. Peter sees them walks in and jumps off the counter. He goes over to the other counter and grabs two plates, stacked with pancakes. Peter holds them out to the men and smiles, waiting for them to be taken.

“Why thank you, good sir,” Peter laughs and runs back to Natasha. They bring another plate for Natasha and a bowl of fruit for Peter. They all sit at the table, Steve and Sam talking about their run while Natasha mumbles something in Russian to Peter. It’s ten minutes later when there’s a loud knock at the door.

“Где мой ребенок?!” _(Where is my child?!)_ Peter jumps out of his seat and runs to the door. He giggles all the way there, stopping right in front of the door, slowly reaching the handle. As soon as he opens it, Bucky bursts through, lifting Peter up with his one arm and draping him over his shoulder. He laughs and screams, waving at Natasha and friends when they walk up. Bucky sets him down, pulling Natasha in for a half-hug.

“Sorry about this morning, thanks for taking him though.”

“Always, are you staying?”

“I can’t...got more things to do today,”

“Ok, just let me know if you need anything.”

“Yeah, yeah,” It’s also then that he notices the others, more precisely, Steve. The latter smiles and waves, hair still a mess from the run. “Hi, my name is Steve. I’m a friend of Sams,”

“J-James, but everyone calls me Bucky.” Steve doesn’t ask how the nicknames works and Bucky is internally screaming. Steve is too, but he’s a lot better at hiding it.

“So what do you have to do?” Natasha veers the conversation away from the incoming awkwardness. Bucky shifts, his right hand still ruffling Peter’s hair.

“Oh, I...I called Fury.”

“Why? You don’t-”

“Я просто переехал сюда, Наталья. Он может помочь с моей ситуацией, пока я не устрою все.” _(I just moved here, Natalia. He can help with my situation until I get everything set.)_

“Тогда Петр может остаться со мной.ему не нужно туда ехать,” _(Then Peter can stay with me. He doesn’t need to go there)_ Bucky thinks about it for a second, crouching down in front of Peter. He’s about to say something, but Peter is already rambling.

“It’s fine if you go.” It’s a sad smile, but Steve can see that Peter is trying to reassure the man. He almost wants to leave, everything seeming a bit too personal, but Bucky stands back up. “It shouldn’t belong, and I’ll call you when I’m leaving. Make sure he eats something healthy for lunch-”

“Says the man that buys take-out more than they actually go outside. Leave жо́па,”

“Later!” He waves on his way out, totally not flushing when he makes eye contact with Steve and leaves.

“Hey Pete, have to been to the mall around here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -@ever_fandom on twitter- !!!


	3. Adventures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a trip to the mall is in order
> 
> -@ever_fandom on twitter- ! ! !!!

Steve doesn’t think he’s ever seen a kid so excited. Steve had changed after Bucky had left, his own that he had left last time he was there. They all decided to go with Natasha and Peter. There was nothing else planned and Steve had that day off. The mall wasn’t that big either, two floors, but still smaller than average. Nonetheless, Peter ran up to each store, googling at everything.

They did stop at a small candy shop. Natasha had got him one of those little buckets that he could fill up with everything. Ten minutes later, he had a mix of salt water taffy, gummy bears, sour patch, m&m’s, and about six more different candies. Steve had even gotten a small bag of gummy worms himself. Peter would offer them pieces of candy as they walked around. At another store, she had got some shitty dad pun shirt that Peter was laughing at.

Steve had definitely learned that this kid was not normal. It was like he had never gone outside just to go outside. There were toys made years ago that Peter didn't even know existed. Steve almost wanted to cry when Peter had asked him what a board game was. They continued, however, walking over to a small park nearby. Sam had found a Frisbee and they were all taking turns, tossing It to the kid. He was practically screaming with joy, running around, dodging people to catch it. Their record was twenty-seven when Natasha had to pick up a phone call. She walked over to the next tree over. Peter paid no mind, jumping over a particularly large root to make a great catch.

He ran back over laughing, getting a high five from both men. Natasha walked back, smiling at the boy. “Hey Petey, your dad is on his way home. Do you want to go meet him there?”

“Yes please!” They have to chase Peter to the car, making sure he doesn’t get run over by people or cars. He bounces in his seat the entire time, mumbling the lyrics to the song quietly playing from the radio. She drops Sam off at their own home and offers Steve a ride home.

“I’m not far Nat-”

“It’s nothing Steve, Just gotta drop off Peter.” He doesn’t argue further, knowing she would keep insisting. Peter didn’t seem to mind either, offering two gummy bears to the adults in the front.

Steve didn’t exactly know what to expect at the house. It's a small two-story house, more worn than the houses around it. There’s an old truck parked in the driveway, but he couldn’t see anyone from his seat. “Come on Petey,” Nat said. “Let’s go say hi to Dad.” Peter jumps out of the car, grabbing his little bucket and waving to Steve. He beats Nat to the door and runs in.

Inside, Bucky is sitting at the table, a new stack of paper spread out on the table. His arm was lying on the other chair. Peter ran into the man, quickly setting the tub on the counter before wrapping both of his arms around him. Bucky laughs and moves away from the papers.

“Hey there short stack, how was your day?”

“Aunty Nat and Mr. Wilson and Mr. Rogers all took me to the mall and we were looking at the stores a-and Nat got me some candy and Mr. Rogers showed me these stores where they only sell games and then w-we went to the park and everyone played with me-”

“Woah, that’s a lot there kiddo. What’s this?” Bucky nodded towards the bucket.

“It’s the candy Aunty Nat bought me! I shared it with everyone because you always said it was nice to share.”

“That’s amazing Peter. Why don’t you go put that in the kitchen and go change, don’t want to make this house even dirtier.” Peter nods and jumps out of Bucky’s lap. He puts the small bucket on the counter and runs upstairs, tossing his shoes somewhere in the hallway. Natasha walkover as Bucky stands up. She can see how tense he is.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll take care of him whenever you need. How did it go?”

“He gave me every paper I could need for the move. Check out my side, too. Said I should keep the arm off when I can, let everything heal.”

“That’s good at least. I have to get going, but you should come over on Tuesday.”

“Tuesday?”

“Clint is stopping by for a while. I got a couple of other friends coming and I was gonna make dinner, you and Peter should stop by.”

“Nat-”

“I know you’re not going get a meal until you’re settled, god knows how long that’ll be. Plus, I totally saw the way you were looking at Steve, who is waiting in my car right now, and it would do you some good to have a little fun, Barnes.” She’s out the door before he processes what she said. After a second, he jumped out, running to the doorway. Natasha was already in the car, waving at him from the driver’s seat. Bucky can just make out another figure in the passenger’s seat. Reluctantly, He closes the door, going back to his seat at the table. Peter runs back downstairs, now in pajama pants and a t-shirt.

“Can I have more candy?”

“How much have you had already?”

“...U-Uh, only a little,”

“Yeah, sure. Why don’t you help with dinner?” They ended up with hot-dogs and mac and cheese, a step up from the take-out these last few days. Peter loves it anyway, happily pointing out the different shaped noodles. By the time they finish and Bucky washes all the dishes, Peter is curling into the couch with his blanket. Bucky slides in next to him, a small bowl of sherbert for the two of them. Peter takes the smaller bowl, leaning on Bucky’s right side. They watch static-y cartoons on the old TV. An hour later, it was dark outside and Peter’s leftover ice cream had melted.

Bucky unhooks his arm from the child and takes the bowls into the kitchen. He just sets them in the sink, writing down a note to wash them in the morning. He goes back over to the couch and shakes Peter awake. It was hard carrying him, even if he was wearing the prosthetic. Instead, he just guides him toward his bedroom, making sure he doesn’t trip over himself on the way up. Peter’s bed is still in Bucky’s room, so he tucks Peter in, changing in the bathroom for light. His side was doing better, and clean bandage and another medication to help. Peter was asleep in his own bed when he got back. Bucky made sure he was ok before climbing into his own bed, going into a restless sleep.

Surprisingly, he didn’t wake up panicky, neither did Peter. Bucky woke up around nine, the blinds opened enough to let some of the light through. Peter’s bed was empty, but he could hear someone rustling downstairs. It took him a second to calm down, to convince himself that it was just Peter. Bucky could hear him talking to himself, quite loudly.

He got up, fixing the sheet before walking downstairs. Peter was running around the kitchen, setting a pan in the sink and digging through the silverware drawer.

“Pete?” He looked up, wild-eyed and smiling. He brought two plates over to the table, both with eggs. “Surprise!” Bucky laughed as Peter grabbed his arm and led him to the table.

“Did you make breakfast, for me?”

“You had a bad day yesterday and I wanted you to feel better so I made eggs!”

“I didn’t even know you knew how to make eggs,”

“Aunty Nat showed me once.” Peter hopped onto the other seat, the arm now moved to the couch. Bucky had just started eating when Peter jumped off his seat, running back upstairs to the bathroom. He came back down holding a bunch of medication bottles. He arranges them, more in front of Bucky, and a couple for Peter. Bucky was surprised for a second but thanked him.

They both had a lot of meds. Bucky had them for his PTSD, anorexia, anxiety, and even more to manage his shoulder. Peter had some for PTSD and anxiety, along with a couple...scars, on his back. Peter took his out and downed them dutifully, making sure Bucky took all of his, taking all the bottles back upstairs. “Thanks, Pete,”

“Didn’t want you to forget…. I know you can’t remember sometimes,”

“That’s why I love you.” Peter grins, eating more eggs. Bucky would chastise him for chewing so loudly, but he was pretty much that same. Peter could totally call him out if Bucky said anything. They continued eating, going back and forth about their plans.

“Do we have to go out today?”

“No, I thought we could paint your room today, and you can be in it by tomorrow.”

“Can I help? Please?!”

“Well, I could use a hand.” Peter laughs at the joke, almost falling off the chair. Bucky cleans off the table while Peter goes into the garage to get the tape.

It takes almost the entire day. They almost spill the paint four times and actually spill a bit later in the evening. Luckily, the tarp was there, but it had scared the man nonetheless. They made it so that two of the walls were red, the others blue. Peter was amazed when they were done. Bucky had to make sure Peter didn't try to touch them while it dried. He kept the boy busy by unpacking what was left, two duffels of clothes to stack in drawers. Bucky talked to Natasha for a bit and watched Peter do a puzzle. By the end of the night, they had moved everything back into Peter’s room.

Bucky’s now resembled what their old apartment had looked like; a mattress with a sheet on it, gun under the pillow, and bags unpacked in the closet. He had a right to be paranoid, after everything. He had debated with Natasha on keeping his gear, in case he ever did go back out to work. Right now, it was like a paid leave until he ‘got back on his feet’.

Peter had loved it, kept saying that it was his dream room. However, when Bucky tucked him in, Peter had reached out.

“Hey, dad,”

“What’s wrong?”

“Can you..can you check the windows? Make sure they aren’t here…”

“Of course,” Bucky goes over to the window, peeking outside. “Ok, I see someone walking their dog down the road, a car just pulled out of their garage across the street, and...that’s it.”

“Nothing else?”

“Nope. You don’t have to worry Pete, Natasha made sure everything was safe here.”

“...it’s still scary.”

“I know Pete, but we don’t have to be scared anymore. We aren’t running anymore,”

“Then why does it feel like we still are?”

“....I don’t know Peter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i will be on hiatus until July 9th, as i have camp. sorry for hiatus


	4. the Dinner Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky goes to a dinner party and plans are made
> 
> -@ever_fandom on twitter for updates-

Peter was...sensitive in the morning. Bucky had to go wake him up in the morning and when he does, Peter was complaining about his back. He had said his scars were bothering him again, even after he had taken his medicine. After breakfast, Bucky had brought Peter into his own bathroom. He had a cream for his arm that he sometimes used for Peter’s back if the meds wouldn’t work.

Peter’s had healed pretty well for what they had at the time, but far from what he had wanted for the kid. There were cigarette burns on his shoulder blades, but most of the bad ones were from belts. Years of whipping would do that to a kid. Bucky tried distracting him as he rubbed the cream slowly onto his back by talking. “Guess what, Pete,”

“Huh?”

“Aunty Nat wanted to know if we could come for dinner tonight. Clint is back and she has a few of her other friends coming. Do you think you want to go?”

“...sure, but do you know who else is going?”

“Not exactly, but I do know that Nat would check anyone before actually being friends with them, so I think we’ll be ok.” Peter nods, looking down. Bucky gives him one of his own shirts so it won’t irritate him. It drops past his knees and the sleeves stop at his elbows, but he likes it anyway. He runs back down the stairs, jumping onto the couch and landing on his stomach.

“Can I call Aunty Nat?!”

“Phone’s on the table!” Peter grabs it and hops back on the couch. He can hear his dad brushing his teeth as he calls the only number on the phone. She picks up after only two rings.

“ _Barnes?_ ”

“It’s me, dad’s upstairs getting dressed.”

“ _And how did I get the pleasure of talking to my favorite child?”_

“I just wanted to call, my back was hurting this morning…”

_“Are you ok now?”_

“Yeah. Dad told me about the dinner thing.”

_“Do you wanna come?”_

“...is everyone there safe?”

 _“I have checked everyone a multitude of times. You already know Sam, Steve, and Clint will be there. One of Steve’s co-workers is coming with his boyfriend, and I can assure you, both of them are harmless. That is everyone that will be there, plus, I’ll get strawberry milk for you.”_ Peter considered this for a moment.

“Ok,”

_“Great, I gotta go, but I’ll see you tonight. Я люблю тебя, солнечный луч” (I love you, Sunbeam)_

“я тоже тебя люблю,” _(I love you too)_ Peter hangs up just as Bucky comes down.

Natasha, on the other hand, considered going back to sleep. She can hear the noise downstairs, telling her that Sam is back from his run. Steve must’ve gone home right away to get ready for work. She decides to get up, slipping a sweater over her tank top and shorts. Sam is rummaging through the fridge when she arrives, sliding the milk onto the counter. She exaggerates a gag when he drinks straight from the jug.

“I’ve seen you do it too Natasha, don’t even.”

“I find it offensive you accuse me of such.” She grabs one of his smoothies from behind him, pulling it away when he reached for it.

“Do we have an official body count for tonight or are we just gonna make a bunch of shit?”

“You and I, Steve, Bruce, Thor, Clint, Bucky, and Peter.” Sam nodded, sitting across from her. He looked down for a minute before asking, “He worked with you, doesn’t he?”

“And what lead you to that?”

“Well, the only other person I know that you casually talk in Russian to is Clint, and he works with you. That and the fact that after you left for a month, the only thing you said was that something happened with a friend. No one knew anything about said friend until you tell me that we have to look at houses for a guy and his kid. Not to mention that Peter is totally not an average kid.” Natasha sighed and laid her head on the counter. “You don’t have to tell me everything about them, but is there anything I _should_ know?”

“It...was a really long time ago, around two years before I met you. I had worked with him since I joined. Then, on a...mission, something went wrong….he went missing for close to seven years. That month that I was gone, we had found one of the places he had been. They sent me to get him because I was closest with him before. Now, I’m just trying to help him get his life back.”

“...Is Peter, like...his?”

“No, but he was with Bucky when we found him. His actual relatives had passed, so he just kinda stayed with him.”

“Oh. They seem like a good pair.”

“Yeah,” Sam didn’t press for more details, in which Natasha was thankful for. Peter, on the other hand, loved pressing for more details.

“Are they making you a new arm?”

“No Pete.”

“Then can I make you a new arm?”

“No Pete.”

“But I’m smart enough and you always have this one as a backup but I bet could make a really cool one for you!”

“I bet you could.”

“Hey, dad,”

“Yes, Pete?”

“Can I go to school?” That...was a new question. Of course, there was a school nearby that he could go to, but it had never exactly crossed his mind. Bucky didn’t even know what grade he would be put in. Peter was way smarter than another kid his age, so he’d probably be put with older kids. Peter had never brought up school before, though not surprising.

“Do you want to go to school?”

“Kinda, I don’t know. The kid next door was talking about school and I could hear with the window open.”

“Well, how about we ask Nat what schools are good around here, she might know. It’s still summer so there isn’t any school right now-”

“Why isn’t there school during the summer?”

“It’s like a break time for the kids, now why don’t you go watch TV while I finish these papers.”

“Can I draw while you finish the papers?” Bucky shrugs and hands him a blank sheet of paper. Peter grabs a small pack of crayons from the drawer. The papers were a lot of forms from work, contracts for him to actually get back into work, ‘if he wanted’. Of course, he wanted to, he needed to, but he could barely function normally. Every moment is trying to figure out the best exit and always double checking for mics and cameras. It’s making sure nobody is watching them from across the street and there aren’t any suspicious cars that happen to be outside a lot.

He just wants a constant, both for himself and Peter. Bucky can’t go back in time and give him a normal childhood, and with everything he’s done, there’s no way he can get a normal job. He knows there won’t just pay him to recover, they’ll expect him to get back out. What else is there?  Natasha will probably yell at him, Peter would too. Natasha was  _vehemently_ against him going back, and he hadn’t even told her that he was going to.

Nevertheless, He filled everything out, just in time to get ready for whatever dinner she had planned. Neither had anything particularly nice to wear. He got Peter to wear the cleanest pair of jeans he owned, a not torn t-shirt, and his favorite hoodie. Bucky himself wore jeans and a long sleeve, throwing his jacket over it. He had Peter help put on the prosthetic. Doctor’s orders or not, he was not going into public without. He hasn’t gone out since he got back, and he’d rather not be ogled at.  

They got there a bit earlier than the others, and by that, he means they were the first ones there. Sam was the one opened the door, smiling at the two.

“Hey, guys,”

“Hi.” Bucky walked in, Peter running past him to go into the kitchen. The older men follow, both laughing at Peter, who clung to Natasha’s leg.

“Hey Barnes, I got burgers and hot dogs ready when everyone is here, a couple other sides.”

“Did you get me strawberry milk?”

“So that’s who I made the store run for,” Peter laughs and thanks Sam. “No problem, I was out anyway.” Natasha manages to convince all of them to help, Sam helping with a pasta salad, Peter and Bucky mixing together a sort of casserole.

More people arrive later, around an hour or so. One of them is loud, tall with wide shoulders, immediately demanding to see Natasha and Sam. The other is more quiet, shushing the larger man and politely greeting everyone. Natasha herds Bucky over, Peter tagging along out of curiosity.

“Thor, Bruce, glad you made it back ok. Guys, this is my friend Bucky and his son, Peter. These are my friends Bruce and Thor.” Bucky held out his hand, but Thor pulled him into a sort of half hug, momentarily causing a bit of internal panic.

“Hello Bucky, I’m glad you were able to make it.”

“Y-Yeah...он очень громкий,” _(He is very loud)_ He expects some comment from Nat, but instead the smaller man responds.

“Сожалею. Он любит встречаться с новыми людьми” _(Sorry. He likes meeting new people)_ Bucky’s eyes widen, clearly confused. “I’m Bruce Banner, sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Thor seems to see Peter and his smile widens even more. Instead of yelling like Bucky though he would, he crouches down in front of Peter.

“You must be Peter. It’s very nice to meet you.” His voice is softer. Peter peeks his head out from behind Bucky’s leg, not saying anything. “Do you go to school Peter?” Peter doesn’t say anything.

“We just moved here,” Bucky supplies. “We haven’t looked at any yet.”

“I work at Midtown during the school year. It’s a very nice place, I think you would enjoy it, Peter.” The boy slides out from behind his leg, slowly walking forward. He stops just in front of Thor, his hands wringing together behind his back.

“I like your name,” Peter says quietly. Thor smiles and thanks him, standing back up. Natasha leads them away, back into the kitchen. Both Peter and Bucky got along fairly well with Bruce and Thor, though Bucky still can’t help but be anxious. Clint arrives next. Bucky already knows him and has a much easier time relaxing after he comes him. They speak a little bit and Peter goes running up to him, not speaking, but hugging his leg tightly. Peter had always liked the man. At first, Natasha was the only one he would trust with Peter. He had worked with Clint only a little before, but once he saw Clint teaching him patty-cake, there was a bond between them only they could understand.

The boy laughed as Clint picked him up, tossing him in the air just a bit and catching him again. He doesn’t see Steve walk in behind him until he hears Natasha laughing.

Steve has three loaves of bread, each a different color. “Sorry, these just got out when I left, thought it’d be good for tonight.”

“Always a pleasure to have some freshly baked treats from your little corner shop. Rogers, I believe you met Barnes briefly a couple days ago,” Steve smiles and holds out his hand. Bucky shakes it, prosthetic held tight at his side and Peter running up behind him.

“Hi, Mr. Rogers!”

“Hello Peter, how are you?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for taking me out last time.”

“It was nothing,” Peter ran off, leaving Bucky alone with Steve. Luckily, Natasha called them outside for any sort of conversation had begun. Steve walked over to Sam and the others by the grill, discussing something about Steve’s work while Natasha led Bucky to a couple seat on the other side of the deck.

They both watched as Peter ran down the step and into the yard, Thor tossing a frisbee at him.

“Вы должны просто спросить его,” _(You should just ask him)_

“Стоп.” _(Stop.)_

“вы плохо скрываете свои чувства, Джеймс.” _(You’re bad at hiding your feelings, James.)_

“Мне не нужен совет по отношениям Наталья,” _(I don’t need relationship advice Natalia.)_ Just then Peter runs up to them, smiling as he slams full force into Bucky’s leg.

“О чем ты говоришь?” _(What are you talking about?)_

“Мы только-” _(We just-)_

“Ничего, не волнуйся.” _(It’s nothing, don’t worry.)_ Peter sighed and jumped off, sitting on the arm rest. Bucky looked back at Natasha, who was smirking at him. “ 私は私の子供の前でこれについて議論しません,” _(I will not discuss this in front of my kid.)_ Peter let out an exaggerated sigh, causing both Natasha and Bucky to look at him.

“You only talk in Japanese when you don’t want me to know what you were saying.”

“Exactly kid.”

“Hey Pete,” Natasha interrupted. “Why don’t you go check how dinner’s coming along with Sam for me?” Peter nodded and hopped off Bucky, running over to the group of ridiculously taller men. “You are not getting away with this for long. You will not be hiding in your empty house and sulk while your kid has more of a life then you do. Do I even want to know how much furniture you have?”

“I have plenty of furniture.”

“I bet my life that you don’t even have a bed frame right now.”

“...I refuse to answer this.”

“So that’s a no, which means tomorrow, I’m taking you out with the short stack and we are going to get you something other than a weapon. Then, I might even get you to go job hunting so you can function like a normal human.” She didn’t let him argue any further, talking about her plans until Sam called them for dinner.

They ate outside, a little table set up with almost enough chairs. Peter didn’t mind sitting on Bucky lap anyway. The man himself thought it went well, other than the fact that Natasha purposely had Steve sit next to him. There weren’t any awkward conversations, But it really didn’t help the whole ‘trying-not-to-immediately-fall-for-this-guy’ problem he was having. He was about to get up, but Steve grabbed his arm. “You, uh, you got something in your hair,”

“Oh?” He ran his hand through his hair, trying to see if it was gone. “That good?”

“It’s still-...here, let me get it.” Steve reached out, gently grabbing something right on his hairline. Bucky could feel his finger just graze his forehead as he pulled a white fuzz off.

“Cool, t-thanks.” He totally didn’t have a gay panic in the bathroom, but came back only a few minutes later. He ignored Nat’s glare when they were leaving. Peter had actually really liked all of them, considering how he usually did around new people. He even gave Thor a hug on the way out.

All in all, Bucky was gonna have a rough night.


	5. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky gets some furniture

Rough night, slowly but surely, turned into a rough morning. Instead of Peter being achy, Bucky wakes up with his entire left side sore and a possible headache coming on. Peter seemed to sense it and shows up not two minutes after Bucky woke up, holding out a bottle of water and at least four pill bottles. He watches as Bucky takes everything he needs, rattling off their list for today.

“Aunty Nat called around an hour ago and said she was gonna come around noon to take us shopping. I tallied the fridge and we’re gonna need to get some stuff for dinner but we’re fine until then. Do you feel better?” Bucky sat up, rubbing his shoulder.

“Fine, what time is it?”

“Eleven twenty-two. Hold on a minute,” Peter runs into the bathroom and comes out with the cream. He sits on the mattress behind Bucky, a look of determination on his face. He grumbles as he runs the cream into Bucky’s skin, “Don’t say you’re fine when you’re not.”

“Yeah yeah….are you ok?”

“I’m ok. You should shower, I already showered, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, and took my meds. Aunty Nat also said you can’t put on your arm if it hurts even a little bit so you can’t put it on.”

“Pete-”

“No, it’s bad for your shoulder and you don’t need it today.” Peter stood up and walked back into the bathroom, leaving no room for discussion. He put everything in its exact place in the cabinet and ran back to the bed, bouncing on the mattress.

“Hey, why are you still in your pajamas?”

“Because they’re comfy and you weren’t awake.”

“You go get dressed while I shower, deal?”

“Deal!” he ran off to his room, slamming the door as Bucky hopped into the shower. He was careful with his arm and by the time he got out, it was almost noon and Peter was in the living room. He was was just in jeans and a t-shirt, but most of his body was covered in one of Bucky’s sweatshirts, and an older one by the looks of it. The cuffs were frayed with a couple holes and part of the pocket had come loose from the seam. Bucky dropped next to him, wrapping his arm around Peter. “Do you feel better?”

“A little, yeah. Thanks, Peter.”

“It’s fine. Can I wear this today?”

“It’s massive on you Pete, don’t you have sweatshirts your size that you could wear?”

“But I like this one! Please?”

“...Sure,” Peter jumped off the couch, the sweatshirt dropping just past his knees. Natasha arrived only a few minutes later, pulling up in a pickup, though newer than Buckys. Peter hops into the back and Bucky slides into the front. Natasha hands him a bag of McDonald's. He hands a breakfast sandwich to Peter with a hash brown and grabs his own.

“Thanks, Aunty Nat!”

“You’re welcome.”

“What are we doing exactly?” Bucky asked.

“Well, a little spy friend of mine told me what your room consists of, and I think we both agreed that if you plan on living normally, you need the basics to feel comfortable. Today, my friend, we are having a shopping spree for your house.”

“But-”

“Nope, I acquired some money from some people who recently passed in a less than glorious fashion, if you catch my drift, and it is my goal to waste all of it on what you would consider a non-priority. You wanna help me pick out some stuff for dad Pete?”

“More shopping!” Peter bounced in the back, the long sleeves flailing around as he cheered. He ate his hashbrown, staring at the window and humming something to himself.

“Where’d you get this car? Not yours,”

“Borrowing it from Steve. We’ll need the trunk and your trunk smells.”

“You were the one that gave it to me.”

“But would it kill you to clean it?” Bucky didn’t answer, leaving Natasha to laugh at his laziness. They go to the same store as before, grabbing one of the palettes as Peter sits criss-cross on it. He was laughing as Bucky would push it faster down the empty aisles. Nat got him a frame and a simple headboard, a small dresser, and even a desk. There was enough room for Peter to stand on the cart still, as he insisted he had to. He told Natasha he would hold the box still and make sure they wouldn’t slide off. Bucky was more careful, taking it a lot slower than he was before.

Everything had just barely fit in the trunk, but they made it work. During the car ride back, Natasha noticed Bucky staring out the window, his face scrunched up and his eyes closed. “You ok?” She asked.

“...I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just...I think I got a migraine coming on.”

“Do you think it’s-”

“No...at least, I hope not. Can we just...get home?”

“Yeah.” Peter didn’t seem to notice, still staring out the window. Bucky makes sure Peter throws all his trash in the bag before getting out of the car. It took a good half an hour to get everything in the house and by that point, Bucky wanted to drop dead. Natasha had dragged him to his room, ‘gently’ tossing him onto his mattress. Peter follows behind him, sitting next to him on the bed.

“Are you ok?”

“Not really, kiddo. Just a headache, though. I’ll be fine.” Natasha came back with a handful of meds and a water bottle. She made sure he took all of it before setting the bottle down next to his pillow.

“I should stay here.”

“No, you should go back home.”

“Barnes-”

“Romanoff. If something happens, I will call you or Peter will. Just go home.” It took her ten more minutes of convincing, but she eventually left. Peter had told him to sleep early, peeling off the straps around Bucky’s chest. “You take a nap, I can make dinner and wake you up later.” Instead of leaving, however, Peter tucked Bucky in and climbed in next to him, hugging Bucky’s torso.

“I thought you were going to make dinner?”

“You’ll fall asleep quicker if I’m here. Sleep,” Reluctantly, Bucky closed his eyes, falling into what seemed like a dreamless sleep.

Natasha, however, could not sleep. It was four in the morning and she was still curled up in her bed, working through some files from work and sipping on her third cup of tea. Sam groaned next to her, throwing the sheet off of his chest. He looked up at Natasha.

“Why are you still up?”

“Work.”

“You hate work, tell me why you’re up.”

“Nothing, just can’t sleep.”

“Well, you should at least try.” She didn’t, going through another file as Sam went back to sleep. Almost an hour later, Natasha’s phone started ringing. Sam immediately woke up from the rustling. “Barnes?”

 _“No, I heard something from his room and he’s just curled in the corner of the room. I-I think he hurt his wrist but-_ ”

“It’s fine.” The waver in his voice made her panic. She jumped out of the bed, pulling on a sweatshirt. With a small hand motion, Sam was right behind her. Sam drove while Natasha stayed on the phone. “I’m on my way. Where are you?”

“ _I’m in the doorway._ ”

“Ok, does he have a weapon?”

“ _No his gun was under his pillow when I checked so I put it in the kitchen._ ”

“That’s good, is he saying anything?”

“ _I don’t think so, he mumbling but I can’t make out any words._ ”

“Ok, Sam and I are at the door.” They pulled up to the house, Natasha not even waiting for a full stop to jump out. Sam followed her through the house, not saying anything about the gun on the table. There wasn’t as much of a scene as he thought. He saw the boy standing in the doorway of one of the rooms. Natasha pushed past him, tip-toeing into the room. He watched everything from the door, a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

His room was completely bare besides boxes and a mattress pushed against the wall. Barnes was curled against the wall, cradling his right wrist. She approached him slowly, holding her hand out as he seemed to press against the wall more. “James?”

“...s-stop..”

“Солдат?-”

“NO!” He flinched away from the word, closing his eyes and tucking his head into his knees. She finally stopped right in front of him, crouching down.  

“Tell me your name.” Her voice wasn’t aggressive, but it demanded an answer. Bucky’s face wasn’t sad or angry, just...nothing.

“...I can’t…”

“Dad please!-” Natasha got up, walking over to Peter and Sam. Bucky stayed planted against the wall, breathing hard. Natasha pushed them both out of the room.

“Sam, I need you to take him out.”

“I’m not leaving dad!”

“I know you don’t want to leave him, but I need to take him to a hospital and you can’t come with, Pete. Sam, please?” He nodded, ready to lead Peter out the door. He fought, yelled at her to stay. She eventually got him to let go, promising calls every hour as she guided him down the hall. As Peter walked down she whispered into Sam’s ear, “Sorry, just drive him around until he calms down please, I’ll call when he’s ok.”

“No problem, just do your thing.” He ran back down to Peter, putting a hand on his shoulder as they walked back to the car. Peter climbed in the back, curling up in his seat and staring out the window. Fortunately, one of the blankets from their park adventure was shoved under the glove box. Sam shook it off and handed it back to Peter, making sure the kid was covered before starting the car. He decided to drive just out of town to a small bakery that he knew opened obscenely early. He would look back every couple minutes to check up on the kid. He never fell asleep, just watching as other cars passed by.

“Do you think my dad is crazy?” The question is so quiet Sam almost doesn’t hear it.

“What?”

“Everyone tried telling me that he was crazy, they didn’t want me staying with him when we got out. I had to stay with Aunty Nat for a couple days, but she yelled at the doctors until they let me stay with him. They still want me to leave.”

“I don’t think he’s crazy, I’ve met Vets that are worse than him. I think you two help each other...does that happen a lot.” Peter was quiet for a moment before he crawled up into the passenger's seat, bringing the blanket with him.

“It used to happen every day when we first got out. He didn’t have his medicine we have now, so he could remember anything. The bad people used to chase after us, so we would drive a lot. He didn’t sleep a lot, so I would stay in the back. Sometimes the bad people would get really close and they would try to take us back, but we would always get away. The last time they got close is when Aunty Nat found us. She stayed with us while dad was in the hospital, but the doctors made her leave for because they said she was stressing everyone out. We were on our own for a bit before she came back and said she found a place for us. He remembers more often, but sometimes he gets really bad headaches and the medicine doesn’t help.”

“But you do. You help him.”

“I grew up with the bad people, but he was always there, and I was there for him. Now, we get nervous whenever we aren’t together. I was only safe whenever he was around and when he’s gone it’s like that’s feeling is gone and all I can think about is the bad people-”

“Peter,” He looked up from the blanket, red eyes. “It’s ok for you to be nervous when he leaves. It’s just separation anxiety. Being in the situation for so long with him and then suddenly not being with him all the time, it’s not easy. It’ll get better with time, you just need to be prepared for when you aren’t together. You could go to school, make some friends. The routine will help you both get used to the distance. Plus, Thor works at midtown elementary, he can help you out. You should talk to your dad about it, and you can always come to me. I help people like you all the time.”

“I know, thanks…..can I get a donut with sprinkles?”

“Sure kid.”


	6. Cake-pops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's a bit short, trying to get the updates out quicker but I just got done with a lot of shit

It was almost five when Sam pulled into the house. Peter was passed out in the passenger’s seat, crumbs still left over on his face. Sam was careful not to slam his door, going over to Peter’s side and carrying him inside. He brought Peter into his own room, trading out the picnic blanket fro his own comforter. He didn’t even notice his phone was ringing until it fell to the floor. He picked it up, moving out to the hallway

“ _Hey, I’m on my way. You ready?”_

“About that, I don’t think I can make it today,”

“ _What do you mean? This is like, the first time this week that I’ve had a chance to run, you can’t skimp out on me now!”_

“Long story, but I got Peter sleeping in my bed and I think Nat took Barnes to the hospital.”

“ _What?-”_

“I know, just come over here. And try not to wake the kid up when you get here,” Steve wasn’t as subtle as Sam had hoped, but he didn’t slam the door upon entry. Sam lead him to the kitchen, where he still had half a dozen donuts left.

“So, Peter’s upstairs? Are you gonna explain what happened?”

“Woke up to Nat running out the door, something happened with Bucky. When we got there, he was in the middle of some sort of flashback with a sprained wrist. The kid was panicking, so I took him here while she took care of Barnes.”

“Is he ok?”

“Natasha said she called when she was sure. Right now, I would say no.” Steve grabbed another donut, tearing it into bits. “What are you going to do with him until she gets back?”

“I don’t know. I gotta go to work around at seven, so hopefully, they’ll be back by then.”

“And if not?”

“I don’t know, I guess he’ll just come with.” They sat in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, Steve sat up. “What if you brought him to the bakery?”

“What?”

“I have to be there soon anyway. You guys can come and he can help me prepare for the day. I mean, kids like baking stuff, right?”

“I mean, sure. I’ll have to message Nat and tell her where we are. You heading out now?” Steve stood up, grabbing yet another donut. “Yeah, I gotta open up. I’ll meet you guys there,” Steve ran out the door once again, driving away in his truck. Sam went back upstairs to check on Peter.

He was awake, sitting up with the cover pulled around his face. His eyes were a bit red, but he seemed ok. Sam sat down next to him on the bed.  ‘You ok Peter?”

“Yeah. Who was downstairs?”

“Oh, that was Steve. He wanted to see if you would like to help him at work.”

“Work?”

“Yeah, He works at a bakery in town. I might have to go to work before Natasha calls. I figured you might like it if you could hang out there. You up to go hang out with Steve?”

 

 

Peter seemed very relaxed working in the kitchen. After they had arrived, Steve showed them into the back. Everything was organized and clean, at least, until they had actually started working. He showed Peter how to move the bread into the pans, getting a couple in the oven. Steve helped him start some batter for the cake pops while he had Sam take out all the stale stuff from yesterday. It seemed to take his mind off of the morning, and Steve didn’t ask about it.

“Hey Peter, are you gonna go to school this year?”

“I want to. I heard the kid next door talking about it and it sounds like fun but...I don’t know. I’m just nervous..”

“It’s fine if you’re nervous. I didn’t start actually going to school until I was eleven,”

“Really?”

“Yeah. My mom and dad moved to America just before I was born. It was hard for them to find work at first, and I was sick all the time, always in the hospital for one reason or another. After my dad died, my mom got a job as a nurse and taught me what she could. Eventually, we saved enough and I got healthy enough so I could go. It was terrifying sometimes, not knowing anyone, but you’ll be able to make friends in no time.” Peter could only watch Steve work for a second, going over all of it in his head. After a minute, he looked back down, “Why were you always sick?”

“A lot of reasons. My body was really weak when I was a kid, so I got sick quicker and it lasted longer.”

“What friends did you make...when you went…”

“I met Sam in school, Bruce too. Believe it or not, he was actually quieter back then,” That got a small laugh out of the kid, Steve smiling as well. Sam walked in a couple minutes later pocketing his phone.

“Nat called, I told them we’re here and they’re on the way right now. I, however, have to go back home to get ready for work. You two think you can not set fire to anything within...ten minutes?” Peter nods and runs over to Sam, hugging his leg. He mumbles something and Sam has to crouch down to hear. He laughs and stands back up.

“I’ll be fine. Have fun!” Peter watches Sam’s car pull away, waving the whole time until it finally disappeared down the road. He ran back to his stool and climbed up. Steve grabbed a small box from a shelf above his head. He leads Peter to a tray of cake-pops, decorated with blue frosting and white sprinkles.

“What are those?”

“Cake-Pops, want to try one?” Peter smiles and nods his head. Steve hands him the closest one, the frosting still stuck to the paper. Peter ate the entire thing in one bite, chewing loudly. There were sprinkles all over his face, but he seemed to love it. Steve put two more in the box, along with two misshaped cupcakes. He closed the box just as he heard a knock from the front.

Peter ran ahead, Steve following right behind him. Bucky was waiting at the door. His left hand was stuffed in the pocket of his jacket. The right one covered by a brace. Peter pulled open the door and immediately hugged the man, stuffing his face into his side. Bucky smiled and wrapped an arm around him.

“Are you ok?” Steve motioned to his arm but Bucky just nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine...thank you again, for watching my kid. You shouldn’t have to and I’m still, like, adjusting to the new place an-”

“Buck,” The nickname made him pause, “It’s fine. Peter’s better than most kids I’ve met.”

“Still, thank you, Steve.” Steve smiled, handing the small box of treats to Peter. He releases his grip from Bucky’s jacket and practically jumps onto Steve. He crouches down, actually hugging him.

“Stay safe please.”

“Always Pete.” Steve stands back up as Peter goes back over to Bucky. He’s almost out the door when Steve calls his name from behind the counter. “There’s, uh..the elementary school Thor works at, they’re doing an open house for the new school year next Monday and I usually bring in some stuff for the kids and the teachers. It would be a good time for you to check out the school, if you want, obviously, and you could always stop by if you want-”

“Yeah...I’ll see if I can go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -@ever_fandom on twitter-


	7. Open house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's open house night at Midtown elementary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bucky is my beautiful brave bean

The next few days flew by for Bucky. With Peter now excited to see his possibly new school, Bucky's wrist healing quickly, and Natasha currently lounging on his couch, he was a little bit stressed. From where he was pacing, he could see Peter laying in the backyard and reading a picture book. 

“Is this about the school thing today?” Natasha asked.

“It’s about a lot of things Natalia, but yes.”

“I got the papers ready weeks ago Barnes. I’ve checked quite literally everyone in this goddamn town. The only people who know about yours and his past are Fury and me, and Fury is across the country for a while. Peter will be safe.”

“I know he’ll be safe, but I’ve never been separated from him as long as a school day and that’s not just me being a dad but also a crazy ex-Russian-assassin who is still being hunted down and-” Suddenly, Natasha is right in his face, blocking his path. Her glare is intense as she says, “None of that was your fault. Don’t say it like it was.”

“I still did it. I know what I did it.  _ Peter  _ knows what I did.”

“ _ Peter _ knows that you had no choice with what they did to you. We all do.” Bucky sat down on the couch, his head in his hand. He feels the cushion give next to him, nat sitting down as well. “What if...what if someone finds us?”

“James Barnes, we destroyed almost their entire organization and the people we don’t are being tracked down every second of every day. This is your chance at a new life; no fake names and dodgy apartments. I think we both know that things aren’t going to ever be exactly normal, but that doesn’t mean it’s over.” He knew she was right. The whole reason he was using his actual name is that Natasha had assured him that he could and that no one knew he was there. They were both surprised when he agreed to it in the first place. 

“Now, this isn’t just about the school thing, is it.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Oh, come on! I can read you like an open book, especially whenever you’re a hot mess. Why don’t you just, I don’t know, ask him out?”

“You know, it's really not as easy as just asking him out. I'm not the person to just ask someone out. Maybe back before, but now...I don't know anything about him!”

“That's the whole point of asking him out dumbass! You ask him out so you can find out more about him. What did you expect to happen?”

“I don't know! Last time I had a boyfriend was when I was seventeen and it barely lasted a week and a half,” Of course, that guy wasn't technically a boyfriend, but he wasn't exactly ‘looking for a relationship’ back then. Now, with his new life with Peter, he didn't necessarily know how to just ask someone out. “...how?”

“He invited you to this school event, right? So when you go, just talk to him a bit. You don’t have to ask for his hand in marriage, just coffee or something easy.” That was something Bucky could do.

 

Out in the backyard, Peter was quietly reading his book. Nat had bought it for him a couple of days ago, a picture book about sea life. His reading was interrupted a few minutes later when a small foam rocket landed a few feet away. Peter marked the page in his book and walked over, grabbing the toy. It was only about the size of his forearm with stickers covering most of it. Suddenly, a pair of eyes were poking over the fence.

Another kid, with a chubby brown face, smiling at Peter.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean for it to go in your yard, could I have it back though?” Wordlessly, Peter walked up to the fence and handed the toy back to the boy. “Thanks! My name is Ned, what’s your name?”

“Peter…” 

“Cool, I gotta go. Later Peter!” Peter listened as the boy ran back inside his house. He grabbed his book from the ground and ran back inside. 

Bucky noticed the kid just as he jumped on his lap. The book was thrown on the floor just as he wrapped his arms around Bucky’s shoulders. 

“Hey kid, you wanna go get dressed so we can head out?” 

“You have to get dressed too, dad!”

“What do you mean? I’m totally dressed!”

“No, you’re in your pajamas. Just hurry up!” Peter ran up the stairs, slamming the door behind him. Natasha smiled and stood up, dragging Bucky off the couch as well. “You need to get dressed and I have to actually get back home before Sam heads out. Thor knows you guys are coming so he can show you around. I think Bruce might go to since he volunteers a lot, so you’ll know at least two people. Call me when you get back,” He watched as she left, waving out the car window. He managed to find a clean pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt, along with a gray zip-up hoodie. 

He debated on keeping off the arm, but he felt too nervous, all the other people. He was able to put it on by himself, though it took a while longer, and he was back downstairs fifteen minutes later. Peter was bouncing around on the couch and watching the tv. He jumped off when he saw Bucky come down the stairs.

“Let's go!” Peter dragged him out toward the car, pushing Bucky towards the driver's side and running back to the other side. He danced to the music the whole ride, trying to get Bucky to dance as well.

 

The school was a lot more crowded than Bucky thought it would be, parents ushering their children around. He parked near the back, sitting in the car for a second. He could even see Peter getting nervous, no longer dancing to the music. Even though he was nervous, Bucky gave Peter a small smile, to which the boy returned. Peter held onto his right arm, the pressure of it actually calming Bucky. He could see a couple people staring at them when they had walked in, but most were too focused on finding certain classrooms to notice them. 

Luckily, He spotted Thor near a couple of chairs, pointing down the hall to a couple and their two daughters. Bruce was standing behind them and waved Bucky over once he noticed them. 

“Good morning Bucky, hello Peter,” Peter waved from behind Bucky's leg. He was fine with Bruce usually, but all the people must be getting to him. Bruce didn't seem to mind the quietness, instead of talking with Bucky. “I'm glad you could come, this really is a good school and I think Peter will like it.”

“I hope so too. He's been talking about going to school since we moved here, even though he's probably a grade ahead.”

“Even if he is at a higher level, it'll be easier for him to adjust with kids his age. I think we have a couple kids in his grade working on more advanced work. There's always a few,” Peter seemed to be relaxing more, standing in front of the man, but still holding onto his arm. The couple finally walked away as Thor turned towards the group. 

“James! I'm glad you are here, shall I show you around?” and Thor started off towards the classrooms. 

Since it was one of two elementary schools in the district, Midtown had a lot of rooms. He smiled politely at all the teachers, but never really engaged in conversations with them. It wasn't until they were in the library that something happened. 

Peter was sitting at a table, coloring a star in, when someone shouted “Peter!” 

Bucky immediately went into a panic, looking for the source and ignoring whatever Thor was saying. What he didn't expect was another kid to come running up to the table. Even weirder, Peter had smiled and waved back. 

What must've been the parents came running behind him, a short, curly-haired woman and a taller, much paler, man. The woman saw Bucky looking down at the kids and came over. Thor had stopped talking about whatever and held a hand out to the woman. “Mrs. Leeds, it's great to see you and your family again! This is James Barnes and his son Peter,”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Barnes.” she seemed to notice the tension in Bucky, completely skipping over a handshake. “I'm Ned's mother, and I believe we're neighbors.” Bucky tried to avoid neighbors at all costs. 

“Oh, I...didn't know that.”

“It's fine. Ned here had run into Peter over the fence this morning, though I had no idea Peter would be coming here!”

“Y-Yeah, schools been a bit out of mind with…moving, and all. I think he’s happy he’ll be starting soon.” The two kids were still coloring, Ned rambling about some toy he got. Peter seemed happy, nodding along to everything. The others parents said something to the kid before going into a classroom down the hall. Thor was about to say something else, but another voice caught Bucky’s ear.

“Just down this hallway and go all the way down, and Mrs. Danvers is on the left.” Steve came around the corner, guiding an elderly woman towards another class. He spotted the two and came over, smiling like an idiot. “Hey, guys,”

“Steve! How’s the table coming along?” Thor’s voice boomed, even attracting the attention of some other around him. 

“Great, I’m just taking a little break right now. Almost out of food actually, might get to head out earlier than usual. How are the tours going?”

“Amazing, I was just showing Bucky around, along with Peter of course.” Steve turned more towards Bucky, actually looking at him instead of quick glances. Bucky couldn’t help but smile back at him. “You like the place?”

“Yeah, it’s nice. Pete has a friend too so, I guess we’re staying.” Thor clapped him on the back. He noticed Steve’s hands fidget at his sides, like he wanted to do something, but he kept them at his sides. Just then, Bruce came around the corner, tapping Thor’s shoulder. “Mr. and Mrs. Smalls are asking for you in your room.” 

“Ok, excuse me.” Bruce tried apologizing, but both Steve and Bucky waved him off. Suddenly, it was just the two men, Peter still consumed by his coloring. 

“You’re wrist looks better,”

“Oh, yeah. It’s still a bit sore, but I’ve dealt with worse. Thanks for watching Peter...after that..whole thing happened-”

“It was nothing, he’s an amazing kid. He might even make my own bread better than I do.” Bucky laughed and Peter finally looked up. He ran over with his paper and shoved it into Bucky’s hands. 

It was Bucky and Peter, holding hands. His arm was more detailed, silver with a bright red and blue star on the shoulder. His long hair was pulled into some sort of ponytail and he was...smiling. It was a bit messy and it took him a second to see it, but there was just a big grin. Peter looked happy too, dressed in a striped shirt. The background was pink with purple swirls, a couple other random shapes as well. Bucky handed the drawing back and watched as Peter gave Steve’s leg a quick squeeze before running back to the table with Ned.

“... _ You don’t have to ask for his hand in marriage, just coffee or something easy.” _

Well Natalia, now or nothing.

“Hey Steve,” the man looked back at Bucky, no turning back. “I just wanted to know...If you’d like to go out, for coffee, sometime?” regrets were already running through his head, excuses to get out of there as fast as possible. Maybe it wasn’t too late to start a new life. All the regrets melted away, however, When Steve’s eyes soften into….something.

“Yeah, I’m free this Friday. Here,” He grabbed one of the blank coloring sheets and a crayon, scribbling his number on the back and handing it back to Bucky. “I gotta get back, call me when you’re free.”

“Yeah. Friday...cool.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shameless plug for updates   
> ~@ever_fandom on twitter~  
> ~everyfandomever1979 on tumblr~


	8. Lunch date

The next few days went by in a blur. After coming back from the open house, Peter’s mind was set on getting ready for school. Thor and Bruce had gone over to the house once or twice, going over the schedule and what teachers he would most likely have. Natasha spent a lot of time yelling at him through the phone, especially Friday morning.

Peter was sitting at the table, coloring another blank animal page, while Bucky was leaning against the counter, phone to his ear. “Natalia, I don’t need-”

“Actually, you do _need a job. Barnes, you are not working at Shield and you won’t ever be again. Sorry, but I refuse to let you throw yourself back into that hell hole.”_

“You still work there!”

_“You and I had very different working experiences, so don’t even try to do that. You are still recovering and that last thing you need to do is jump back into the action. This is a process Barnes, and this would be a good opportunity for you. Working at the VA would still allow you to help people and give you a living that doesn’t involve all the messed up shit. You’ll just sit at the helpdesk and organize papers for a couple of hours, nothing too stressful for you.”_

“Yeah but-”

_“Sam offered this, so I suggest you take it.”_

“Can we just not talk about this right now?”

 _”Sure, let's talk about your date.”_ Bucky sighed, sitting across from Peter at the table. The boy saw his expression and handed him an apple slice from his plate. Bucky smiles and takes a bite. ” _What's going with that?”_

”Nothing, we're going for coffee after his shift ends, one-ish.”

_”So you took my advice?”_

”I refuse to give you credit for anything about this situation.”

_”I'm sure you meant to say thanks, so, you're welcome.”_

”Whatever. Now, if you're done giving me a life lesson, I have things I could be doing.”

 _“Yeah, whatever.”_ Bucky hung up before she could argue with him any longer. He stayed at the table, watching as Peter colored polka-dots across the entire page. He suddenly stopped, dropping the crayon and looking up at his dad. “You’re going out later?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna drop you off at Aunt Natasha while I go out. She has a phone for you too so you can call me if anything happens and you need something.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Uh...you remember Steve, yeah?”

“Mr. Rogers is really nice, I like him.”

“That’s great! You see, I’m gonna go hang out with him for a little bit.” Peter's eyes seemed to bore into his own for a few moments.

“Do you like him?”

“I mea-”

“Like, like him-like him?”

“....yes?” Peter nodded, grabbing his crayon once again and drawing. Bucky was quiet, unsure of what to do next. Out of nowhere, Peter said, “Are you gonna kiss him?” The man almost fell out of the chair, but was luckily able to keep himself upright.

“Pete- that’s..it’s more-...I don’t know,”

“You should. He makes you happy and Aunty Nat said you need to be happy more often.” Well, the last thing Bucky expected to come out of Peter’s mouth was relationship advice. The kid didn’t even look up as he talked about Bucky’s ‘tragic romantic lifestyle’, no doubt overheard from one of Natasha's conversations with God-knows-who.

Bucky got up, veering the conversation away from himself as he picked up Peter and tossed him over his good shoulder. They both laughed, Bucky bouncing to an unknown beat. After a few minutes, Bucky dropped the boy on the couch, almost sitting on top of him. “Why don’t you go get ready and grab anything you wanna take over there, good?” Peter jumped up and ran up the stairs. Bucky took a few minutes to straighten everything up on the table before following Peter up.

It had been...more or less, a while since Bucky had gone on anything resembling a date. He didn’t even know if this _was_ a date. He had hoped on the inside, but now it was just stressing him out. He managed to find a plain red swear thin enough to keep him from overheating, but think enough to hide the weird, bulky parts of his prosthetic; adding onto that his usual black bomber-jacket and jeans, he was much less panicked about the date. Peter had found his way into Bucky’s room while he was figuring out what to do with his hair. The boy had offered several suggestions of his own, most involving either ponytails or barrettes, sometimes both.

Bucky settled for just leaving it down, spraying ‘dry shampoo’ in his hair; a suggestion from Natasha after some frantic text messaging. Even Peter seemed to notice his stress, bouncing around on his bed and rambling about some new candy Bruce had given him. It had actually worked, all up until Bucky had actually pulled up in front of Natasha’s house. She met them in the driveway, leaning through Bucky’s window. Peter jumped out of the car and slammed into her legs.

“Hey there Питер, you wanna help me make some lunch?”

“Yeah!” She looked back at Bucky, smirking.

“Time for you to head out, Barnes. Try to actually have fun.” Bucky pulled into the street, waving to the two before actually leaving.

Bucky turned on the radio in an attempt to distract himself. The ride there wasn’t long, but it was long enough for the man to go through every possible scenario that could happen; most involving some sort of rejection. When he had actually pulled up to the coffee shop, he could see Steve through the window. He didn’t seem to notice Bucky, even when he walked up to the counter. A couple minutes later, and Bucky walked over with a black coffee in hand. As he got closer, Bucky could see that he was sketching something in a small notebook, smiling to himself. Bucky took a second to sort his thoughts before sitting down.

Steve's smile could have blinded the sun.

“Hey, Bucky. Sorry, I didn’t get anything for you, I don’t know what you like so-”

“It’s fine, I usually just get black anyway,”

“A man after my heart.” Something inside Bucky twisted when he said that, a pit in his stomach that made him feel...giddy.

“What are you drawing, if you don’t mind me asking?” Steve turned the notebook so Bucky could see.

“The hospital downtown asked me to paint some of the walls for all the kids. I was just trying to think of some ideas.” The page Bucky had seen earlier was a zoo setting, all the cartoon animals all over the place. Another was a big city skyline over some body of water. “Damn, you’re really good at drawing.”

“I guess, yeah. It’s just a side hobby really,”

“You got a job from it though.”

“Eh, I love drawing, but I’ve always wanted to own my own bakery, just me and a couple of friends. Did you ever know what you wanted to do when you grew up?”

“Kind of...realistically, the only thing that I could’ve done at the time was going into the army, but...I always thought about becoming a teacher.”

“Why a teacher?” Steve looked genuinely curious.

“When I was in high school, I had a little sister, but we could only afford for one of us to go. I sort of taught her everything after I came home, like, as I was doing my homework, I would explain everything as I was doing it.” Steve looked at him for a second, seemingly lost in thought.

”You would've made a good teacher,”

”You think?”

”Yeah, I mean, you seem to do great with kids and after teaching someone else for that long, you'd be a good fit.”

”Oh, thanks.” they fell into an easy conversation after that. Steve talked about his dream to become a baker when everyone thought he would be a lawyer. Bucky also learned that Steve had actually served for a while.

”How long?”

”Just two tours, I went to school with Sam when I was younger, but he moved away a couple years later. I met up with him again my second go-around and we reconnected just like before. I moved over here with him, bought the shop, rest is history...Natasha said that you used to work together?” Bucky knew the topic would most likely come up, but it didn't stop him from flinching just a bit.

”Yeah, almost six years, I trained her until we were eventually just working together. Everyone always said we made a really good team…” Bucky waited for him to start asking more questions about his past, considering he didn't say much, but instead he completely changed the topic.

”Is Peter excited for school?”

”Oh God, I can't even get him to stop talking about it. Not even exaggerating, he goes over his school supply list every morning just to make sure everything is correct and he’s not missing anything. I was planning on taking him to the store either Saturday or Sunday to get everything, hopefully, there will actually be supplies left...I was afraid he would be nervous, cause he still gets nervous sometimes when he’s in a crowd with myself or Natasha, but he’s actually doing better than I thought.”

“I think he’ll be fine. Thor will be with him and Peter seems to like him.”

“Yeah,” Bucky brushed his hair behind his ear, finishing off his coffee. “I’m still nervous about it all.”

“You’re a dad, Buck. Every parent is nervous, especially when they’re sending their kid to school for the first time. As long as you can find something else to do, the time will fly by and he’ll be back before you know it.”

“...you’re probably right...thanks, Steve,”

“No problem Buck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not dead, hi


	9. School day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's first day in class

The ride to the school was uneventful. Bucky let him play the music louder than usual, probably to benefit both of them. Thor was waiting at the doors and waved once he saw them. The two men talked quietly for a minute, but Peter was too distracted to listen in. He scanned the rush of students, all yelling at each other and running into the building. Peter jumped when a hand touched his shoulder, but relaxed when he saw Bucky. “You gonna be ok?” Peter nodded. Bucky hugged him tightly before heading back to the car. Thor offered his hand and the two walked back into school. 

Everyone already knew where to go, shoving bags and coats into cubby-holes. Peter’s class is at the end of the hallway, a tiny corner with kids his age heading in. Thor squeezed his hand and crouched down next to the boy. 

“Ok, I’ll walk in with you and talk to your teacher, but I want to make sure you know some things. I won’t be able to stay during your class time, but my classroom is just down the hall,” he points to a room and Peter can just make out ‘Mr. Odinson’ on a plaque. “If you ever get overwhelmed or you just need a break from all the other kids, you can always come to my class and relax, got it?” Peter nodded to Thor as he stood back up, dusting off his pants. 

The classroom itself seemed smaller with everyone sitting at their desks. No one noticed him walk in, only a couple kids glanced up at Thor before returning to their conversations. Peter stayed by the doorway and pulled his backpack up to his chest. He watched as Thor talked with his teacher, an older woman named Mrs. Valentine, and they both walked over to him. 

“Hello Peter, how are you doing today?” Peter could hear the slight French accent in her voice and Peter only thinks for a second about responding in French. He can also hear her trying to keep her voice quiet, despite the noise in the background. 

“Fine.”

“Ok, how about I show you your seat and we can start class.” She holds out her hand and Peter takes it, waiting until Thor actually leaves the room to go to his seat. All the excitement leading up to school slowly turned into nerves. His desk is the closest to the teacher's desk, but he doesn’t mind. Each desk is meant for two people, but the no one was in the other seat. Peter set his bag on the ground, pulling his sweatshirt tighter around his shoulders. Suddenly, a person is sitting in the seat next to his. He looks up to see Ned, smiling at him and pulling out some coloring pages. 

“Hi, Peter! I saw you sitting alone and asked Mrs. Valentine if I could sit by you….can I sit by you?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s fine,” Ned smiled and handed Peter one of the pages, a smiling dog. The two were able to color for a few more minutes, ignoring the conversations around them. 

“Ok everyone, let’s quiet down and get to business,” all the kids turn toward her, shifting their chairs around. ”So, my name is Mrs. Valentine and I’ll be your teacher this year. I lived in France until I was fourteen and then I moved here. I have two cats, Sirius and Minnie, and I love them with all of my heart. Now that that is out of the way,” She went over to her desk and grabbed a stack of papers. She went around and placed one in front of each kid, talking as she went. ”These sheets have a couple questions that I would like you to answer, just to introduce yourself, and I’ll tape them on the wall tomorrow. This is all we’ll be doing for today, so take your time and make sure to color it!” Mrs. Valentine went back to her desk and sat down, pulling out a stack of papers. 

Peter looked down at his sheet, twisting the pencil in his hand. 

**Name?** Well, that was an easy one. He wrote ‘ _ Peter’ _ in big capital letters at the top and smiled to himself. 

**Whose in your family?** Peter wrote out ‘ _ my Dad, Aunt Natasha, Clint (Aunty Nat’s friend)’. _

**When is your birthday?** Peter didn’t know his real birthday, neither did Bucky. They usually celebrated them together, so Peter hesitantly wrote ‘ _ March 10th’. _

**Favorite hobby?** Peter nudged Ned’s arm, whispering in his ear, “What’s a hobby?” Ned spoke without looking up from his own paper.

“It’s what you like to do when you don’t have to do work. I like to make food with my mom,” Peter nods writing ‘ _ Coloring’ _ in the blank spot. 

**Fun Fact!** Peter had no idea what to write for that, “Hey Ned, what did you do for your fun fact?”

“I said that my dad is a translator, so he’s gonna teach me a different language.” Peter thought about it for a second. He knew a lot of different languages. After a couple more minutes, he wrote ’ _ I can speak English, German, French, Russian, Romanian, Arabic, Latin, and some Korean’. _

Underneath all the questions, there was a box that asked to draw his family. He was only halfway through when he had to stop. The kids had started to talk again, slowly getting louder with each minute. Mrs. Valentine had yet to say anything about it, and it had begun to bother Peter more than a little bit. After another five minutes attempting to color in his shirt and he walked up to her desk, gripping his paper tightly. Mrs. Valentine looked up at him and smiled, but it dropped once she noticed his expression. She stood up and walked in front of the desk, crouching down in front of Peter and uncurling his hand from the paper. 

“Would you like to bring you to Mr. Odinson?” Peter nodded his head, trying to tune out the yelling from the rest of the class. Mrs. Valentine knocked on the next door class and asked the teacher to watch her own class for a minute before leading him down the hall. She knocked on his door and opened it up, peeking her head inside before actually walking in.

No one was in the class besides Thor, who was sitting at his desk. Mrs. Valentine led him to the desk closest to the front and let him sit. Thor sat down next to him, waving to Mrs. Valentine as the door closed. 

“It was too loud,” he said quietly, still clutching his paper. Thor grabbed a couple of crayons from the box on his desk and handed them to Peter. He managed to get Peter to set the paper on his desk and continue what he has started in class. 

”That's ok, I told you to come down if you needed anything, right?” Peter nodded as he colored Bucky's hair. ”And I'm glad you did. So why don't you finish that and once you feel better, we can go back to class.” Thor moved some papers from the desk next to Peter and sat down. He was able to get Peter to talk while finishing his project. About ten minutes later, someone else walked into the room. 

He was obviously older, Peter assumed he was in his late teens. He was lanky, clothes hanging off of him as he closed the door behind him. The boy didn't notice Peter until he was already talking. 

”Sorry about coming early, Rosie had some problems when I was dropping her off and Dad is coming back tomorrow so we- oh, hello.” He finally noticed Peter sitting at the desk and turned around fully. 

”Harley, this is Peter, he's a new student here. Peter, this is Harley Stark. He comes to my class after dropping off his sister and helps out with my own students.” The boy, Harley, held his hand out for Peter to shake. Peter could see a small oil stain on the cuff of his sleeve but didn't comment. He watched as Harley dragged his bag over and pulled out a laptop, setting up next to Thor. 

”Dad gave me a new project and he said as long as I did all my other assignments, he wouldn't lock me out from the files. I told him I finished all my summer assignments and they didn't give us work so I finally get to work on it.” Peter glanced at the screen, mesmerized by everything shown. Advanced math that Peter was only allowed to do every once in a while at the bad place. It was the only thing he enjoyed doing. Harley noticed him looking and shifted the screen so he could read more clearly. 

”It's some sort of power source…” Peter meant to whisper, but the others heard him. 

”Yeah, my dad’s working on a clean energy source he can use for his offices, and hopefully others will like it.” Harley seemed impressed, but Thor only smiled, pushing the paper closer to Peter.

”Why don't you finish this and then you can work with Harley.” That made Peter hurry his drawing, putting a little less effort with Natasha and Clint, but he did make sure they looked nice. Thor made Peter show him the work before pulling up a seat next to Harley, calling someone on the phone. 

Harley didn't seem to mind the boy watching him write notes and work. Peter noticed something while Harley was scribbling something down.

”You can take this out…”

”Hm?” Peter pointed to a mesh of wires, all twisting and connecting different parts. ”If you connect those bottom wires through the top board, take out the bottom board, you can get rid of some of the wires and it'll send the signals faster, make it more efficient and less expensive.” Harley thought about it for a minute for laughing. 

”Right you are. How old are you Peter?”

”I'm eight.”

”Well then, I'll make sure to tell my dad that you're better at this than he is.” After that, Thor asked him if he was feeling any better. Peter didn't even realize his headache was gone. He let Peter say goodbye to Harley, promise to meet up again and work on the project, and went back to his class. They were just about to finish up their own sheets. 

Ned immediately had asked millions of question, like where he had gone and if he was ok.

”Mr. Thor said I could come down to his room is I ever got overwhelmed, so I colored down there where it was quiet and I even got to work on something else with a new friend I made, his name is Harley.” Ned was about to ask more questions, But Mrs. Valentine gave them both a pointed look before talking about the class rules. It was was only a half day, so by when the bell rang at quarter to noon, Peter practically ran out the door. Thor had told him to wait until they saw Bucky pull up, so he sat outside on one of the benches with Thor sitting next to him. He had just waved to Ned, who was getting in his parents’ car when Bucky’s truck pulled up. 

The man looked like he had worked the whole time Peter was gone. He jogged up to the sidewalk and pulled Peter into a tight hug. Peter was just as happy to hug back, his bag still sitting on the bench.

“Hey there kid, did you have a good day?”

“Yeah! I got to sit next to Ned in my class and I went down to Thor’s room and there was another kid there who was older and he let me help with this power source he was working on!” 

“That’s amazing Pete, why don't you grab your bag and we can head out of here.” Peter grabbed his bag and hugged Thor for a quick hug before running back. Bucky had picked up lunch on the way, handing a pack of chicken nuggets, starting the car. Peter noticed that Bucky seemed more upset than usual and handed him a chicken nugget. 

“Thanks, Peter.”

“Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, I just talked with Natasha about some things for work again, boring adult stuff.”

“Anything bad?”

“No, not that kind of conversation. Though, after school tomorrow, we got a couple of errands we need to run.”

“...Ok!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this part came out super late. I just got back from a band competition and I haven't been home since 630 am, PLUS I'm about to pass out rn, but I still wanted to get this out. Hope you enjoy !


	10. Doctor's office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one is a bit late

The next school day was almost the same, except Bucky had to wait until three to pick him up. Peter rambled about his day the whole car ride, explaining the sheets he needed Bucky to sign and what worked on, things Ned had told him about. 

The car ride to Shield was just around a half an hour, or at least to the nearest office. It was the only place with doctors that Bucky could trust, for both himself and Peter. He had made an appointment the day before to ask about something they could do for Peter. The boy visibly slumped when they pulled up. 

”Why are we here?”

”Thor told me about what happened, and we can get you something to help with your hearing and even your eyes…Clint will be there,” That caught his attention and seemed to cheer him up. 

Peter knew Clint was pretty much deaf without his hearing aids, and he even taught the boy ASL while Bucky had gone into surgery. It was supposed to just pass the time, but they had continued it later on. They had their own private conversations late at night as to not disturb anyone. 

Clint was right at the front when they walked in, smiling and holding a large bag of Doritos. ”Why hello there, care for a chip?” Peter took one while Bucky went to sign in, sitting back down next to the two. ”Are you nervous Pete?”

”Kinda…”

”Well, that's why I'm here. I can assure you that they will help. If they can make these bad boys,” Clint pointed to the bright purple hearing aids he currently wore, ”they can totally make some for you.” 

”Does it hurt?”

”Nope, it’ll feel a bit weird at first, but you get used to it. I don't even think about it anymore.” That calmed Peter down enough until they actually got called to go back. He gripped Bucky’s sleeve tight and shuffled behind him, only sitting on the bed after Bucky agreed to sit with him.

Bucky felt just as uncomfortable, but he kept his head high, refusing to flinch when someone ran by or pushed a cart past them. Clint talked Peter down the while exam, telling stories of himself and Natasha in childhood. Even though he had heard it many times before, Peter still laughed whenever Clint talked about his time working in the circus, even if he barely knew what it was. 

They already had a pair ready, as Shield had talked about getting them when they arrived. Bucky had refused after seeing Peter’s reaction toward the doctors. Few people were allowed to see the kid at the time, much less work on him. 

Peter tried them on, more nervous than before. They were really just more compact, advanced ear plugs, ranging from total noise cancelation to just above a whisper. He ended with two sets, one his own skin tone and another bright red, thanks to Clint. Peter was poking at the case when she brought over another, longer black case. Inside was a set of sunglasses with a small red spider logo on the side. 

”Ms. Romanoff insisted on a pair.” Peter put them on right away, a huge smile now on his face. He put them back and in the case and handed it to Bucky. 

”I'm going to the bathroom,” and with that, he walked into the connecting bathroom, locking it behind him. 

”Natasha told me about your little conversation yesterday.” 

”She tells you too much about my conversations with her.”

”Well, if it matters, I think it's a swell idea!”

”It doesn't.” 

”Why are you so opposed to it? It's not uncommon-”

”I know it's not uncommon, but I can barely take care of myself and Peter as it is, much less a dog.”

”I get the whole depressed thing you got going, but the whole point of getting a service dog is so it can help you. Peter can help you take care of it and you can afford the supplies. Nat told them you’d stop by today if you wanted to try, so just think about it man.” Bucky was about to argue, but Peter walked out, drying his hands on his pants. 

”They didn't have paper towel.” Both men laughed, Bucky carrying all the cases in a small plastic bag. Clint waved to them outside at the door, heading back inside for god knows what. Peter was digging through his bag when Bucky pulled over. “Do you think you’d be up for another trip?”

“Trip where?”

“The office...Natasha wants me to get a, uh, a service dog, and she said I’d come down later today.”

“...What’s a service dog?”

“It’s a dog that people train to help people like me with disabilities and...things like that.” 

“Oh, ok.” Peter didn't say anything else, so Bucky started the car and continued to drive. It was another forty-five minutes to the main office in the area; a huge, gray building, the outside truly reflecting the inside. Even the cars were small and dull, the same model for the same employees. 

Bucky led the way, Peter holding onto his hands tightly. Every few seconds, the boy would squeeze tightly, and Bucky would squeeze back. Peter kept close, even when they arrived at the office. 

An older woman was waiting for them when they got to the other side of the building. She walked them through to a room with just a couple of chairs and a small table. She sat them both down before sitting herself. 

”My name is Ms. Russell. I got the message when you were coming in today. Usually, there's a lot of paperwork and time with these things, but Shield put you on priority in case you ever decided on this. Mrs. Romanoff helped out a little too. I’ll be right back.” The woman left the room, leaving the door open just a crack. Peter climbed off of his chair and sat on Bucky’s leg, tucking himself into his sweatshirt. 

”I’ll try to get us out soon, ok?” Peter kept his eyes closed but nodded. Ms. Russell walked back in, beast in tow.

Beast was an exaggeration. A silver Labrador retriever, two years old at the most. She brought them over on a leash, telling her to sit right next to Bucky. Peter was still on his leg, though the other side, and watched as Bucky held out his real hand. They sniffed and licked, but stayed seated the entire time. 

”Her name is Moony, just turned two a month ago. The shelter found her under a dock upstate, the rest of her liter was already dead. Once she was healthy enough, took her in and started training her immediately. When Ms. Romanoff was filling out the forms, in case you came in the future, she marked her down as a good match.” Moony seemed to like him and stayed relatively calm as she explained everything to him. 

“Shield has highly recommended you take at least one therapy session before officially taking her home and continuing them biweekly to check on your progress, either here or at the local VA. We’ll have a couple of training sessions after that, just to make sure she is completely ok with taking orders from you, and that’ll be it. All that’s left is to sign a couple of papers, should I go get those for you?” Bucky thought for a moment, scratching behind the dog's ear. Her head was resting on Bucky’s thigh, stretching out just a bit to sniff at Peter’s leg.

“Yeah,” She smiled and stood up, saying she would be right back before leaving the room. Moony stayed right at his feet, laying down on the ground. 

“So is she our dog now?” Peter asked. 

“I guess, yeah. She'll probably actually stay at the house sometime next week.” Peter climbed off of his leg, sitting on the ground across from the dog. Carefully, he held out his hand for her to sniff. He laughed when she licked his fingers, wiping the slobber on his pants. They kept going back and forth until Ms. Russell came back with a small stack of papers to sign. 

Together, they went over the cost, most of which would actually be covered by Shield, and a list of basic dog supplies. She gave Bucky a number for a therapist at the VA that worked with P.O.Ws like him. 

Bucky and Peter walked out almost an hour later, both extremely tired. 

”I like Moony, she has pretty eyes,” 

”They are very pretty.”

”So she’s gonna help you get better?”

”Yeah, like a dog with a job.”

”...dogs can have jobs?”


	11. Therapy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> therapy and more plans

Bucky’s first day of therapy was that same week, Thursday afternoon. They hadn't had another incident like Monday yet, but Peter always kept hearing aids and sunglasses on him, and he always liked going to Thor’s room during recess to play with him and Harley. 

Bucky double checked that Peter had his lunch before letting him out of the car, waving for a minute before driving off. He turned up the music on the way to the VA, taking the back roads. 

The name of his therapist was Brunnhilde, though Bucky had never heard of someone with that kind of name. When he had told Sam, he just laughed and said that he was in for a ride. However, It had only made him more nervous about the appointment. 

As he parked, Bucky could see Sam walking in a couple spots down. He noticed Bucky get out of her car and walked over smiling. 

”Morning, you good?” 

”Enough, kinda just want to get in and out, but that’s probably not gonna happen.”

”Well, this is your first time, right?” Bucky nodded. ”Then this will just be more of the basic questions, setting the bar for every other visit, shouldn't be that bad.” Sam showed him to the correct room, tucked in one of the back hallways. Bucky knocked on the door before he walked into the room. 

Sat at the desk was a short, dark-skinned woman was sitting at the desk, playing some sort of game on her phone. She looked as old as Bucky himself, maybe a bit younger, hair braided and in a bun. She didn't look like a therapist either, dressed in an old college sweatshirt and leggings. 

She jumped up and held out her hand. Bucky shook it and sat down on the couch towards the edge of the room. 

”You must be James, you can call me Val,”

”What about-”

”My mother curseth thy name. No one calls by my first name, you got a nickname?” 

“I go by Bucky,” She grabbed a notebook from behind her and opened it up, looking back at Bucky.

“So, why don’t you tell about yourself and what you think your problems are, what you want to get out of this, yadda-yadda.”

“Ok. My name is James Buchanan Barnes and I’m thirty-six year old. I joined the army right out of college and got into Shield soon after that. I met Natasha there and after I finished training her myself, we became a team. Almost eight years ago, My entire team was killed and I was kept as a prisoner. Then, around a year ago, I escaped with Peter. Natasha found me a while after that and now I live in an actual house, so there ya go.”

“And Peter's you’re kid?”

“Kind of...he was brought in a while after I was. They didn’t like taking care of a kid so I did. He grew up in there so I tried to give him parts of my childhood.”

“How do you think he turned out after everything?”

“He...Peter didn’t really realize anything was wrong for a while; he just knew the people in charge were bad and that they hurt him. He knew that I was protecting him. He still has problems, anyone would, but he's doing better than I expected.”

”And how do you think you turned out?” Bucky thought for a minute, staring at his hands. 

”I don't know...I don't think I'll ever be able to get over what happened. I know I’m fucked up because I’m paranoid all the time and everyone said I was too dangerous to keep my kid. I just want him to have a normal childhood.” Val set the notebook down and took a sip of the water bottle next to her. 

“I’ve seen relationships like this, born from some tragic past. They usually end up only making things worse for the other, but I think this situation is the opposite. He helps you…”

“He was the only one who gave me a sense of humanity….and...I want to get better  _ for  _ him. I want to be able to give him things and take him places but I just can’t when I’m paranoid like this.”

“So he’s your motivation for all of this?”

“...Pretty much.” She wrote a couple of things down and looked back at him. 

“Usually I would try to push to talk about yourself more, but I think that’s something for another day. I have just enough time in the sessions to tell you about what we’ll be doing, schedule the next appointment, all that jazz.” That’s exactly what she did. She didn’t sugar coat what it was gonna be like or treat him like a doll. Bucky actually felt refreshed walking out.

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out, noticing the name on the screen, ”Natalia?”

” _ Morning Barnes, how’s the day been? _ ”

”It was fine, just left the appointment.”

” _ Great! Would you care to come out for lunch with me?” _

”Just us?”

” _ Well, Sam and Steve would be coming but that’s just more the reason for you to come.” _

”Nat-”

” _Nope, I wanna see your butt at my house in half an hour and we can meet the others._ _See you later!_ ” She hung up before Bucky could argue. It couldn’t be that bad, just a lunch with friends. 

He got home with just enough time to change and pull his hair up. Bucky was glad for the cold; even though it made his arm ache, he could cover it all up with more layers. After shoving on his leather jacket on, he hopped back into the car and drove to Natalia’s house. 

She was waiting on the porch, tugging at her jacket. She saw him and ran to the car, jumping in the passenger’s seat. 

”It’s too damn cold.”

”A little wind, паук.”

”Says you, Mr. I-wear-seventeen-layers-at-all-times.” Bucky scoffed and glanced over at her. Nat just smiled at him. ”You know I’m right.”

”Yeah, well, I have reasons.” 

”Sure, some bullshit reasons that aren’t really reasons.” Bucky subconsciously pulled at his sleeve. It wasn’t like hadn't accepted it, he just...wished it wasn't there. Natasha noticed his discomfort and stopped pressing, turning up the radio instead. ”You never did tell me about your date,”

”It was...fine.”

”Fine? Just fine or-”

”It was good...great. It was great.” the man couldn't help but smile. ”He’s nice. He messages me pretty much every day, even just to say hi...it’s nice.” Natasha smiled, nudging his elbow. 

”Look at you, Barnes. And who said you couldn’t have a new life?”

”A lot of people; professionals, doctors, probably Barton.”

”Ok, you may be right about the first two, but Barton will never have any say in matters like that. He’s like a goldfish, just entertaining enough to keep around.” Bucky laughed and pulled into the diner. He could already see the other two through the window, talking and picking through a basket of fries. 

They both looked up when Natasha and Bucky came in, scooting over. Bucky’s hand brushed Steve’s as he sat down; both pretended not to notice. 

”How’s the kid Barnes?” Sam asked. 

”Only in it for the kid?”

”Exactly!”

”He’s fine; at school, probably talking to his friends and actually having a life.” They all laughed, asking him more questions. Bucky was actually doing pretty well with the conversation, managing to actually pay attention to the topic. 

Bucky had that problem when he had first left. He would dissociate pretty much any time someone tried to talk with him besides Pete. It had been a reflex, to avoid contact with anyone, mostly the doctors and soldiers posted outside of his room. It was a whole week before the man said anything and it was to tell Natasha any names he could remember. 

Bucky looked across the table when Natasha kicked his leg. She made a face and nodded her head behind him. The waitress was walking up and Bucky hadn't even grabbed a menu. He picked the first thing he saw: a water and a club sandwich. 

After taking everyone else’s order, left the group back to their discussion. Most of it was Sam and Natasha bugging Steve about something or another. It wasn’t until all of their food came that Bucky was brought back into the conversation. 

“Hey Barnes, how’s are tiny tot doing?” Natasha asked.

“He’s good, school’s easy and he made a friend; I didn’t know a kid could genuinely like school that much.” they talked about Peter for a while, Bucky easily falling into other conversation. The whole time in the back of his head, he was  _ very _ aware of the presence next to him. Natasha would give him a look every once in a while, but he ignored it, focusing on his food instead. Soon after Nat finished, she whispered something to Sam and they both stood up. 

“Sorry guys, emergency. I’ll call you later,” She put her hand on Bucky’s shoulder and caught a glimpse of a wink. Sam pulled out his wallet and threw some cash on the counter, “That’s for our food, Rogers.” He looked at Steve and the man just shrugged his shoulders. 

Bucky was suddenly aware with the fact that Natasha left just to get the two alone. Steve seemed perfectly fine next to him, smiling and eating his fries. “So,” Bucky said quietly, “How’s the shop?”

“Good, I got an order for some charity event that I have to start soon.”

“What’s the charity?” 

“To help fund the cancer wing at the hospital downtown, they just asked for a bunch of cupcakes, which is easy enough, and it's a good cause so why not? How about you?”

“Oh, I’m still...not working. I still have checks coming in; I’m not worried about money or anything. Just kinda...coasting by right now.”

“Have you thought about getting a job?”

“A little. Nat and Sam said that he’d be able to get me a job at the VA, but I haven’t taken it yet.”

“The VA is really nice; I worked there a bit when I was getting my shop started. It was just front desk stuff, but everyone was really cool.”

“I’ll think about it.” Steve seemed to like that answer and smiled. He glanced at his phone, the smile turning into a frown. “I have to go right now, but...you wanna go out for lunch with me sometime tomorrow?”

“Uh, yeah….yeah.” they both stood up and Bucky watched as Steve walked out to his car, waving. His phone buzzed and he pulled it to see a message from the man.

**Steve:** _ I’ll pick you up :) _

If anyone saw his reddening face, they spared him the comment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for sticking with it


	12. class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, hi, this is what i have right now, explanation at the end
> 
> sorry its a bit short.

Peter loved school more than he thought he would. All his initial nerves had left after the first couple of days and turned more into curiosity. Bucky dropped him off right at the front, always double checking he had everything before leaving. Thor was always waiting for him and would walk Peter to his class, talking about whatever he had planned for his own kids. 

Ned was waiting for him inside the classroom, everything laid out neatly on his desk. Ned was Peter’s official best friend. There had been another girl Peter had once talked to during recess, but she didn’t even look at him. Ned had told him that her name was MJ and that she didn’t talk with anyone. Peter was fine with having one friend; he’d seen the massive groups of children and found it too threatening. Mrs. Valentine didn’t pressure him to do anything or hang out with the others. Thor had told him that she was filled in on enough of his past and knew how to help if something bad ever happened. 

Once everyone had taken their seats, Mrs. Valentine passed out a writing worksheet. They had spent most of the week practicing, which Peter already excelled at. He finished his sheet before everyone else and began to copy the sentences on the back of the sheet in Russian and French. When Mrs. Valentine walked by and saw, she smiled and corrected one of the French words. Ned looked over in awe, ‘Dude, that’s so cool!”

“It’s just a different language. English is my second language, technically.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I learned Russian before I was even taught English.”

“That’s so cool.” Peter smiled and pulled out his notebook. After everyone else finished the assignment, Mrs. Valentine had them partner up to read a short story. Peter and Ned sat in the corner on the beanbags while reading. Mrs.Valentine passed out a paper with some questions they had to answer. By the time everyone was finished, Mrs.Valentine said that they had a free hour before lunch and recess. Peter grabbed his notebook from his bag before saying goodbye to ned. Whenever they had a free hour, Peter would hang out in Thor’s class with Harley. 

Mrs.Valentine made sure to watch Peter walk down the hall, waving to him before walking back into her classroom. Thor was already waiting for him and waved once he saw Peter. He saw Harley hunched over a table in the corner and walked over. Peter didn’t expect to see him hunched over a leg. 

It took Peter a moment to process the fake leg that Harley was working on. A few moments later, Peter actually looked down to see his right pant leg was hanging off the chair. Harley noticed him watching from behind and moved his chair over to let the boy look. 

”I didn’t know-...” Peter whispered. 

”It’s fine, I didn't say anything and it's not like I'm wearing shorts all the time. Something was just bugging me this morning and I didn't want to bug my dad. One of the plates got messed up so I’m fixing it now.” Peter watched silently for a few minutes as Harley bent one of the knee plates back into place. 

”How long have you had it?” Peter asked.

“I was born without a leg, my biological mom wasn’t really a healthy person. My dad has a whole department in his company that works on prosthetics.” 

“The bad men took my dad’s arm. They made him wear a special arm.” Harley stopped messing with the leg, looking up at Peter.

“The bad men?”

“Yeah, but the nice nurse ladies gave him a new one. I don’t think he likes it, but he doesn’t like going outside without it.” Harley studied Peter for a second, eventually turning back to his leg. 

”You know, I could probably get my dad to help get your dad a new arm, especially if the one he has right now hurts him.” He explained as he put his own prosthetic back on. 

”How?”

”Well, there's a bunch of legal stuff, but my dad owns the company so he could get your dad one pretty easily.” Peter thought about it for a moment, looking at Harley’s prosthetic. Before he could answer, Mrs. Valentine walked into the class, knocking on the door.

“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s almost time for lunch Peter. I asked Ms. May to take my class down with hers so I could come and get you,” she said. Peter nodded and slip off the chair, pulliHarleyley into a hug. Harley pulled away but held onto Peter’s shoulders.

“You can ask your dad about it if you want. Whatever he’s cool with, my dad won’t care, now go eat your lunch, shorty.”

“I’m not short!” 

“Yeah yeah, go,” Reluctantly, Peter left, though not without giving Thor a hug as well. 

Peter couldn’t stop thinking about Harley’s offer. He tried to focus on his work, but even Ned noticed how spacey he was. He was able to finish his last worksheet at the end of the day, right on the bell. His dad always complained about the arm the nurses gave him, even if he never told Peter. He could see it everyday when Bucky put them on. 

Peter ran to Bucky’s truck as soon as it pulled up, almost jumping into the man’s arms. 

“I take it school was fun?” 

“Yeah!” Peter waved to Thor as Bucky pulled away, “I was talking with Harley today before lunch…”

“Harley?”

“He’s an older kid who stays in Mr. Thor’s class. One of his leg’s is like yours,”

“Really now?” Bucky didn’t take his eyes off the road, but Peter could tell he was listening. 

“He said that his dad could help you get a new arm, one better than what the nurses gave you; his dad is really good at making prosthetics,”

“Well, let’s focus on one thing at a time for today. I gotta go pick up Moony right now, you wanna come? Or do you want to hang out with Aunt Tasha while I go?”

“I wanna help!”

“Well, I guess that settles it,”

“...can we get ice cream?”

“Sure kid, we’ll get some ice cream.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so, sorry this story got delayed...like, a lot. I have a lot of things going on in my life that I'm still figuring out how to make time for writing. I had writer's block with this story for a couple days, but that started to snowball with my depression and social anxiety. It's been either very high or very low recently.  
> Good news? I actually got a job!! the jobs I've worked before were seasonal (babysitting in the summer and a cider mill in the fall), but now I have an all year round job, working with kids my age and pretty easy hours. I actually like working because it gives me time away from my house. Desperately needed.   
> I also, with the new semester in school, got a new schedule that has an extra 7th hour (or block idk) which is very weird for me. I get home an hour later and sometimes I go to work right after and don't get back home until 730, so no writing those days. 
> 
> moral of the story? Sorry, thanks for reading, hope this part wasn't terrible, etc <3

**Author's Note:**

> -@ever_fandom on twitter for updates-


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